A) 
h/ 


V 


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DISEASED  COMMUNITIES. 


Australia,  New  Zealand 


AND 


BY 

THOMAS  J.   DIVEN 

AUTHOR  OF 

"AZTECS  AND  MAYAS" 

AND 

"THE  20TH  CENTURY  PHILOSOPHER" 


Publishid  by  the  ANTIQUARIAN  CO. 

i8o  N.   Dearborn  Street 
CHICAGO 


1911 


3>0 

INDEX     \)lo% 
f^ll 

CHAPTER  I. 

Page. 
Australia — The  Country   5 

CHAPTER  II. 
Present  State 28 

^  CHAPTER  III. 

\      The  Way  Thither 51 

OS-    • 

^  CHAPTER  IV. 

The  AustraUans   80 

^  CHAPTER  V. 

Diseased  Australia   104 


c-^ 


CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Chinese  Question   122 

CHAPTER  VII. 
New  Zealand 144 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand 173 

CHAPTER  IX. 
"Look  to  Home" 211 

CHAPTER  X. 
Our  Lesson   239 


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CHAPTER  I. 

Australia — The  Country. 

Australia  is  an  individual  continent  lying 
south  of  the  equator,  west  of  the  180th  degree 
of  longitude.  Its  length  east  and  west  is, 
roughly  speaking,  about  2,500  miles;  its 
breadth,  2,000.  Its  northern  limits  are  within 
ten  degrees  of  latitude  south  of  the  equator,  its 
southern  limits  about  forty,  so  that  it  covers  a 
range  of  climate  from  Chicago  to  Panama.  In 
area  it  is  about  the  size  of  the  United  States, 
excluding  Alaska,  or  nearly  that  of  Europe 
with  its  more  than  300  millions  of  people.  It 
is  all  an  English  colony,  under  one  govern- 
ment, with  individual  states  much  like  the 
United  States.  With  the  exception  of  an  in- 
considerable number  of  aborigines  who  cut  no 
figure  whatever,  a  very  few  Chinese  and  Hin- 
doos, the  inhabitants  are  all  white,  Europeans 

5 


6  Australia — The  Country. 

who  speak  only  English,  are  Christians,  and 
overwhelmingly  Protestant.  So  that  the  Aus- 
tralians have  no  boundaries  conterminous  with 
that  of  another  race  with  different  color,  lan- 
guage, and  largely  different  religion,  as  in  our 
case  with  Mexico;  or  the  same  boundary  with 
the  outpost  of  a  jealous  foreign  power,  as  in 
our  case  with  Canada,  where  its  chief  states- 
craft  lies  in  fitting  canals  to  our  great  lakes  so 
that  in  case  of  war  with  England  that  country 
could,  within  two  weeks,  take  possession  of  and 
reduce  to  ashes,  or  levy  tribute,  on  Buifalo, 
Cleveland,  Toledo,  Detroit,  Duluth,  Milwau- 
kee and  Chicago.  To  digress  a  little,  while  the 
last  statement  seems  big  I  have  never  heard  it 
questioned  by  any  politician  in  the  country 
since  the  elder  Carter  H.  Harrison,  thirty 
years  ago  while  mayor  of  Chicago,  made  the 
first  determined  effort  to  meet  that  problem  by 
opening  the  ship  canal  to  New  Orleans,  which 
step  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  blocked  by  the 
jealousy  of  the  railroads.  Nor  will  it  be  solved 
so  long  as  the  great  wealthy  state  of  Illinois 
elects  representatives  who  are  pledged  to  block 
the  scheme  by  the  well-known  political  process 
of  "queering"  as  I  was  informed  was  the  case 


Australia — The  Country.  7 

by  United  States  officials  several  years  ago  in 
Washington. 

So  that,  aside  from  the  inevitable  problems 
arising  to  all  the  human  race,  front  to  front 
with  all  the  forces  and  laws  of  nature,  benefi- 
cent only  when  we  understand  them,  the  Aus- 
tralians have  only  social  questions  to  consider. 
They  have  no  defense  problem  other  than  that 
which  occurs  to  all  of  Greater  Britain.  They 
have  no  race  problem  like  our  negro  question, 
which  problem  the  Australians  are  so  fond  of 
throwing  in  our  faces,  which  matter,  however, 
the  writer,  who  thinks  he  is  as  well  informed 
on  that  subject  as  any  man  in  the  country, 
does  not  even  consider  a  problem,  but  which, 
however,  he  considers  a  greater  question  in 
South  Africa  than  even  the  Boor  question. 

The  religious  question  with  them  is  purely 
academic.  That  question  the  chief  and  most 
disturbing  political  problem  in  British  Amer- 
ica, the  vital  and  overwhelming  and  insoluble 
problem  to  the  European  colonies  in  North 
Africa,  the  question  which  looms  up  so  por- 
tentously on  our  horizon  as  our  people  are 
destined  to  become  overwhelmingly  Catholic 
or  infidel,  does  not  cause  them,  and  need  not 
cause  them,  a  moment's  reflection.    And  yet 


8  Australia — The  Country. 

in  no  country  in  the  world  except  Canada  is 
that  question,  Protestantism  vs.  Catholicism, 
fought  over  so  bitterly,  as  shown  in  the  corre- 
spondents'  columns  of  the  Australian  news- 
papers. 

So  that  ''Down  Under",  "The  Underworld", 
or  "The  Colony",  as  they  are  fond  of  calling 
the  great  continent  of  Australia,  is  a  clear  field 
where  the  people  of  British  blood,  language 
and  religion,  have  a  chance  untrammeled  by 
adverse  circumstances  to  work  out  what  is 
best  in  them,  and  they  think  what  is  in  them 
is  the  best  there  is  on  earth.  So  that  if  there 
be  any  falling  off  in  any  particular  they  must 
bear,  without  modification,  palliation  or  ex- 
cuse, the  full  blame  for  their  shortcomings. 

Like  the  Jcavs  of  old,  they  think  they  are  the 
particular  pets  of  God  Almighty  who  watches 
over  them  with  more  care  and  affection  than 
the  rest  of  the  human  race.  In  fact,  they  talk 
and  write  as  though  they  had  a  proprietary  in- 
terest in  Him,  that  they  are  His  only  legiti- 
mate children,  while  the  rest  are  bastards  who 
are  only  allowed  to  exist  at  all  as  a  great  con- 
descension. Wherein  they  are  deficient,  they 
cannot  throw  the  blame  upon  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, the  civil  war,  the  negro  question,  the  vot- 


Australia — The  Country.  9 

ing  privileges  of  the  indigested  hordes  of  for- 
eigners, as  we  do ;  nor  upon  the  Catholic  ques- 
tion, as  does  Canada;  nor  can  they  attribute 
anything  to  growing  pains,  or  to  over-rapid 
development.  I  am  only  endeavoring  to 
measure  their  degree  of  success  in  the  light  of 
the  present  century.  I  think  I  have  the  right 
to  do  so. 

And  Australia  is  a  continent.  I  think  we 
are  not  allowed,  even  by  a  stretch  of  the  imagi- 
nation, to  term  it  an  island.  It  is  more  truly  a 
continent  than  Europe.  It  is  as  much  so  as 
North  America  or  Africa.  It  is  washed  on  all 
sides  by  the  ocean's  waters,  but  so  are  North 
and  South  America.  Cuba  is  an  island  because 
its  fauna  and  flora  are  precisely  the  same  as  on 
the  adjacent  American  continent;  so  England 
to  Europe,  or  the  island  of  Vancouver  to  Brit- 
ish America.  Australia  is  independent,  self- 
risen  from  the  primeval  waters.  It  is  trite  to 
say  that  while  it  is  summer  there  it  is  winter 
here.  To  one  who  has  spent  over  twenty 
winters  in  warm  climes,  ten  of  them  within  the 
tropics,  that  applies  to  most  of  the  world;  that 
while  it  is  day  here  it  is  night  there;  that  ap- 
plies even  in  our  own  country,  as  while  the  sun 
is  still  shining  on  busy  San  Francisco  the  peo- 


10  Australia — The  Country. 

pie  of  New  York  are  comfortably  settled  in 
their  theatres  just  when  the  villian  is  most 
triumphant,  or  asleep  in  their  beds ;  that  while 
it  is  Saturday  here  it  is  Sunday  there.  In  our 
part  of  the  universe  lighted  by  the  sun  no  one 
minute  is  more  holy  than  any  other  minute, 
but  what  is  more  important  to  a  scientific  man, 
it  is  one  of  the  centers  of  the  world 's  develop- 
ment. Agassiz,  who  fought  the  Darwinian 
theory  to  his  last  breath,  asserted  it  was  one  of 
the  five  creations.  As  we  go  south  by  train 
from  Chicago  we  experience  no  shocks.  Every 
mile  almost  discloses  the  northern  limit  of 
some  well-known  plant,  scrubby  and  insignifi- 
cant at  first,  then  larger  and  more  abundant 
until  too  familiar  to  notice ;  then  another,  and 
then  another,  until  nearly  under  the  equator 
one  arrives  at  the  apex  of  vegetation  familiar 
and  satiated.  Not  so  in  Australia.  The  scien- 
tific man  arrives  there  as  though  projected 
from  a  catapult  on  to  another  world.  Leaving 
out  the  question  of  European  culture,  it  is 
another  world.  The  minerals  are,  of  course, 
the  same,  but  we  are  taught  by  scientists  that 
they  are  precisely  the  same  on  every  body  in 
the  universe.  The  same  revolutions  and  ages 
may  be  traced  in  Australia  as  elsewhere  in  the 


Australia — The  Country.  11 

world,  but  a  geologist  could  probably  fiud 
nearly  similar  ones  and  read  them  as  easily  on 
Mars.  But  the  shells  are  different,  the  corals 
different,  the  fish  mostly  new  and  different, 
while  the  vegetation  and  animal  life  is  almost 
wholly  strange.  The  gloomy,  dirty,  stinking 
eucalyptus,  an  exotic  in  North  Africa,  is  there 
the  prevailing  woods.  It  offers  no  incitement 
to  rambling,  as  the  woods  of  Europe  or  Amer- 
ica. Together  with  the  strange  plants  and 
flowers  it  gives  one  a  sort  of  unearthly  feeling, 
which,  I  believe,  can  never  be  eradicated.  It 
is  said  that  the  poetic  significance  of  the  palm 
is  " Far  from  home. ' '  To  me,  familiar  with  the 
palm  since  my  twentieth  year,  that  tree  is  a 
friendly,  beneficent  relative,  the  green  cocoa- 
nut  the  mother  of  a  second  childhood.  Not  so 
the  eucalyptus.  It  represents  to  me  all  the 
strangeness,  unfamiliarity  and  repugnance  of 
an  individual  of  another  race,  color  and  lan- 
guage. Perhaps  I  could  in  time  overcome  the 
feeling  of  dislike  it  causes  in  me,  but  I  doubt 
it.  The  beautiful  woods  around  my  home  by 
the  Kankakee  River  have  never  seemed  so 
dear  to  me  as  since  my  stay  in  Australia  and 
New  Zealand. 

I  am  not  a  naturalist,  and  animals  interest 


12  Australia — The  Country. 

me  but  little.  During  forty  years  residence  in 
Chicago  I  have  never  seen  its  zoological  gar- 
den. The  stuffed  animals  in  the  excellent 
Sydney  museum,  however,  were  a  revelation 
to  me,  and  of  absorbing  interest.  I  did  not 
dream  that  there  were  in  all  the  world  so  many 
varieties  of  the  marsupials,  or  pouched  ani- 
mals, represented  on  the  whole  x\merican  con- 
tinent solely  by  the  opossum,  as  are  found  in 
Australia.  For  instance,  there  are  thirty-seven 
varieties,  the  authorities  say,  of  the  wallaby. 
Pretty  much  all  of  the  mammalia  are  pouched. 
There  were  no  indigenous  ruminant,  or  grass- 
eating  animals  There  Avas  the  dingo,  or  so- 
called  wild  dog,  not  pouched,  but  whether  it 
really  belongs  to  that  family  (the  canine)  or 
not  I  was  not  sufficiently  interested  to  investi- 
gate. There  was  also  the  bear,  a  little  animal 
hardly  larger  than  a  cat,  but  whether  really  a 
bear  or  not  I  do  not  know,  but  except  these  and 
some  other  exceptions,  all  the  mammalia  seem 
to  be  pouched,  even  the  rats,  mice,  hares,  and 
squirrels,  I  suppose  some  hundreds  of  varie- 
ties, and  there  is  always  the  ornithorhynchus, 
or  duck-billed  platypus,  all  of  which  are  so 
strange  that  it  caused  Australia  to  be  con- 
sidered as  one  of  the  original  scenes  of  crea- 


Australia — The  CountrV.  13 

tion.  That  the  continent  is  favorable  to  ani- 
mal life  is  shown  by  the  kindly  manner  with 
which  it  has  treated  all  imported  life.  Pheas- 
ants, ducks,  geese,  turkeys,  chickens,  thrive  as 
well  there  as  any  where  on  earth.  English 
foxes  were  introduced,  and  have  prospered  so 
w^ell  that  now  they  wish  they  had  not  intro- 
duced them.  Hares  were  introduced  and  have 
multiplied  "like  rabbits",  until  now  they  are 
the  chief  pest  of  the  country.  Their  hogs, 
while  not  attaining  the  elephantine  propor- 
tions and  weight  of  our  Illinois  pigs,  are  better 
eating  from  their  greater  proportion  of  lean 
meat.  Their  hams  are  sweeter  from  their  man- 
ner of  curing  them,  and  are  also  lacking  in  the 
vitriolic  creosote  taste  of  our  Chicago  prod- 
ucts. Their  cattle,  like  those  on  our  great 
Texas  and  Montana  ranges,  increase  tremen- 
dously, but,  like  them,  are  tough  and  stringy. 
Like  all  of  the  rest  of  the  people  in  the  world 
who  never  ate  corn-fed  beef,  the  Australians 
do  not  know  what  good  beef  tastes  like.  I 
know  in  this  assertion  I  am  stirring  up  a 
hornets'  nest.  You  may  insult  the  nobility,  or 
even  the  royal  family ;  you  may  deny  the  Eng- 
lishman's  God  and  he  will  bear  it  patiently, 
but  if  one  dares  to  allege  that  English  beef  is 


14  Australia — The  Country. 

no  good  he  flies  right  off  the  handle  and  burns 
to  wash  out  the  reproach  with  the  blood  of  the 
''alligator."  I  only  know  that  except  one 
piece  on  the  Mariposa,  I  did  not  eat  one  mouth- 
ful of  good  beef  from  the  time  of  leaving  Chi- 
cago until  I  returned  to  that  town.  On  the 
other  hand,  Australia  is  the  best  home  on  the 
earth  for  sheep.  No  where  on  earth  can  sheep 
be  raised  so  easily,  with  so  little  effort  and  so 
cheaply  as  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  and 
no  where  else  do  they  have  finer  lamb  and  mut- 
ton. The  product  of  New  Zealand  is  superior 
to  that  of  Australia,  but  even  that  of  Australia 
has  spoiled  me  for  mutton  eating  in  the  United 
States.  All  that  I  have  eaten  since  reaching 
home,  whether  lamb  or  mutton,  has  seemed 
dry  and  tasteless,  but  then  it  may  have  been 
goat  masquerading  as  sheep.  And  then,  too, 
one  must  take  into  consideration  that  pork  and 
mutton  are  the  only  things  on  earth  the  Eng- 
lish know  how  to  cook.  In  the  matter  of  sheep, 
the  figures  will  startle  anyone  from  the  United 
States.  From  traveling  on  the  same  trains  and 
stopping  at  same  hotels  in  New  Zealand  and 
Sydney,  I  became  quite  well  acquainted  with 
an  Australian  farmer  and  his  wife  who  were 
doing  a  summer's  trip.  He  owned  30,000  sheep 


Australia — The  Country.  15 

and  seemed  to  think  he  was  only  a  small  sheep 
farmer,  while  to  me,  accustomed  to  the  herds 
of  Mexico  and  the  States,  the  figure  seemed 
overwhelming.  One  hundred  thousand  to 
200,000  sheep  with  one  owner  is  a  very  com- 
mon number,  while  one  man,  Mr.  Scidmore,  is 
said  to  own  over  a  million. 

The  English  race  itself  at  the  antipodes 
gives  no  evidence  of  deterioration,  but  on  the 
contrary  I  think  a  decided  improvement.  I 
think  the  men  will  average  a  greater  height 
than  those  in  the  United  States,  while  in 
Sydney,  at  least,  the  women  appear  to  me  to 
rate  some  degree  better  in  beauty  than  those 
in  England.  In  appearance,  dress  and  style, 
they  resemble  more  nearly  those  in  America 
than  do  those  of  England,  but  as  this  is  a  dan- 
gerous subject,  and  one  I  know  nothing  at  all 
about,  I  drop  it. 

Prior  to  the  advent  of  the  white  man  there 
were  no  grains  growing  in  that  country,  and, 
except  perhaps  on  the  tropical  extremity,  no 
nuts  nor  fruits.  All  have  been  introduced,  and 
with  some  exceptions  seem  to  do  well.  Oats, 
rye,  barley  and  wheat  grow  as  well  as  here, 
and  a  great  quantity  of  wheat  in  sacks  is  ex- 
ported to  England.    Maize,  or  com  as  we  call 


16  Australia — The  Country. 

it,  thrives  in  Australia,  but  as  it  is  used  solely 
as  feed  for  hogs  not  much  is  grown.  As  a  lady 
said,  "We  do  not  eat  corns  in  Australia;  we 
feed  them  to  our  pigs".  When  one  thinks  of 
the  hundreds  of  ways  it  is  prepared  for  food  in 
our  country,  what  a  deprivation  we  would  feel 
without  it,  one  can  only  sympathize  with  them 
in  their  blindness.  To  think  that  there  are 
millions  of  white  people  speaking  the  English 
language  ignorant  of  the  superlative  excell- 
ence of  roasting  ears,  which  with  the  water 
from  green  cocoanuts  constitute  the  two  very 
best  things  on  this  terrestrial  ball  with  which 
man  can  distend  his  "tummy".  Well!  Well! 
This  is  a  queer  world !  ' '  The  heathen  they  bow 
down  to  stocks  and  stones."  "Ephriam  is 
joined  to  his  idols;  let  him  alone!"  Of  course 
the  real  reason  is  that  it  is  not  fashionable 
eating  in  London,  and  the  worst  is  that,  as  corn 
will  not  grow  in  England,  it  will  never  become 
so.  So  that  the  unfortunate  Australians  for 
all  eternity,  or  until  they  have  their  Fourth  of 
July  will  be  barred  from  knowing  the  excell- 
ence of  maize  as  an  article  of  human  food,  will 
never  feast  on  succotash.  One  wishes,  for  their 
own  sakes,  that  the  whole  royal  family,  and 
the  nobility  down  to  the  last  "by  courtesy" 


Australia — The  Country.  IT 

lord  and  lady,  would  issue  a  jointly-signed 
proclamation  graciously  allowing  the  colonials 
of  Australia  and  New  Zealand  to  eat  maize, 
assuring  them  that  they  would  not  by  so  doing 
lose  caste. 

Upon  the  whole,  Australia  fares  well  in 
fruits,  tropical,  sub-tropical  and  temperate. 
The  apples  of  Tasmania  are  equal  to  any  in  the 
world.  The  grapes  are  perhaps  the  finest.  They 
are  fulh^  equal  to  the  Spanish,  and  much  su- 
perior to  those  of  California.  These  two  were 
the  best  fruits  I  ate  during  all  the  trip,  nor 
could  I  get  enough  of  them.  But  all  fruit  is 
excessively  dear,  also  vegetables,  in  strong 
contrast  with  meats,  which  are  surprisingly 
and  absurdly  cheap.  The  cheapest  grapes  were 
12  cents  a  pound,  ranging  from  18  to  24  cents 
a  pound  usually  for  the  finer  varieties.  The 
prevailing  and  universal  price,  as  I  found  it, 
both  in  Sydney  and  the  country  towns,  was  4 
cents  each  for  apples,  pears,  peaches,  oranges 
or  plums.  These  things  are  not  sold  by  the 
basket  and  in  groceries,  as  with  us,  but  invari- 
ably come  to  market  in  large  cases,  and  are 
sold  by  Italians  and  Chinese,  usually  in  little 
shops,  where  they  also  sell  the  limited  supply 
of  green  vegetables  known  as  green  groceries. 


18  Australia — The  Country. 

This  statement  as  to  price  was  flatly  denied  to 
my  face  by  an  Australian  on  the  boat  return- 
ing from  thence.  I  asked  him  to  give  me  the 
address  of  one  place  in  Sydney  where  one 
could  buy  fruit  at  reasonable  prices,  as  I  had 
been  partly  keeping  house,  usually  ate  fruit 
from  four  to  six  times  a  day,  and  had  tramped 
the  town  over  to  avoid  what  I  considered  an 
extortionate  price.  His  reply  was:  "From  the 
push  carts".  As  I  did  not  see  a  push  cart  in 
all  Sydney,  except  for  the  sale  of  ice  cream, 
and  as  he  did  not  live  in  Sydney,  I  will  let  my 
statement  stand,  in  spite  of  contradiction.  I 
might  have  cut  out  of  their  daily  papers 
several  letters  from  subscribers  bitterly  com- 
plaining of  what  they  call  a  trust  existing 
among  the  Chinese  and  Italians  to  fix  an  ab- 
normal price  upon  fruit,  as  though  there  were 
any  law  to  prevent  any  grocer,  news  stand 
keeper,  meat  market  owner  or,  in  fact,  any  one 
of  the  many  thousands  out  of  employment, 
from  selling  fruit  at  any  price  he  pleases.  It 
is  a  great  deal  like  the  people  of  our  country 
blaming  the  lumber  seller  for  the  high  price  of 
lumber,  or  Armour  for  the  high  price  of  meat> 
It  is  on  a  par  with  the  conduct  of  the  people 
during  the  middle  ages,  when,  during  famine 


Australia — The  Country.  19 

times,  they  imprisoned  the  bakers.  As  though, 
where  monopolies  are  not  given  by  direct 
grant,  any  combination  of  men  could  fix  the 
price  on  staple  articles.  While  my  neighbors 
are  getting,  on  their  farms,  eight  cents  live 
weight  for  their  hogs,  where  they  used  to  get 
three,  I  will  believe  there  is  some  other  reason 
for  it  than  the  benevolent  disposition  of 
Armour.  As  I  was  unable  to  buy  fruit  any 
cheaper  in  the  country  towns  of  New  South 
Wales,  where  I  made  frequent  little  excur- 
sions, I  will  attribute  the  price  wholly  to  the 
disinclination  of  the  natives  for  intensive 
farming.  The  colonial  terms  fruit-growing 
and  gardening  ' '  Chinese  business  that  no  self- 
respecting  white  man  would  engage  in."  The 
Australian  would  prefer  to  sleep  in  the  parks 
and  beg  for  thrip  pences  on  the  street  corners 
after  dark  to  making  a  fortune  and  losing 
caste  by  any  such  mode  of  gaining  a  living.  As 
to  profits  arising  from  this  despised  business, 
I  will  let  the  following  clipping,  from  a  Sydney 
daily,  answer.  I  think  anyone  would  say  that 
$1,300,  from  little  over  an  acre,  adequate  re- 
numeration  : 

Mr.  H.  Jacob,  a  Mildura  orchardist,  has  had  a  return 
of  17  tons  of  lemons  oflF  1  1-4  acre  of  land.     He  paid 


20  Australia — The  Country. 

£29  as  railway  freight  on  the  produce  going  to  Mel- 
bourne. Five  years  ago  Mr.  Jacob  received  only  £5 
from  the  same  lemon  orchard,  then  rapidly  deteriorat- 
ing and  threatening  to  die  out  altogether.  Recogniz- 
ing that  the  depletion  of  the  humus  of  the  soil  by 
constant  intertillage  was  the  case  of  the  orchard's 
decay,  Mr.  Jacob  had  some  portable  pens  made,  and 
maintained  a  large  number  of  pigs  between  the  trees. 
The  results  of  the  experiment  were  striking.  Trees 
that  were  almost  dead  took  on  new  life,  the  foliage 
of  the  orchard  assumed  a  more  wholesome  hue,  and 
each  year  the  crop  of  fruit  showed  a  marked  increase, 
terminating  this  year  in  the  heavy  crop  of  17  tons, 
which  sold  for  £250,  In  addition  to  the  great  man- 
uring value  exercised  upon  the  land,  the  pigs  returned 
a  direct  profit  at  the  rate  of  £10  per  acre. 

All  this  seems  to  hold  true  as  to  green  vege- 
tables, scarcity  considered,  but,  except  in  case 
of  radishes  and  tomatoes,  I  am  not  so  positive 
as  to  question  of  prices.  During  four  months 
of  Australian  eating  I  would  say  that  nine 
times  out  of  ten,  or  nineteen  out  of  twenty,  we 
had  no  other  cooked  vegetables,  aside  from 
potatoes,  than  string  beans  and  a  sort  of 
squash  called  vegetable  marrow.  I  grew  to 
loathe  the  sight  of  both.  Once,  thank  God,  we 
had  boiled  onions.  My  first  thought,  on  placing 
my  foot  on  the  continent  of  North  America, 
was:  **At  last  I  am  emancipated  from  string 
beans  and  vegetable  marrow" 

Australians  make  a  great  deal  of  wine  from 


Australia — The  CountrV.  21 

their  grapes,  all  the  familiar  marks  being  imi- 
tated. It  is  a  strong,  coarse,  heady  wine,  very 
like  the  California  wine  of  fifty  years  ago.  A 
moderate  indulgence  in  it  will  cause  a  violent 
headache,  or,  as  an  American  living  there  ex- 
pressed it,  "put  one  on  the  blink"  for  two  or 
three  days.  Yet  I  found  half  a  glass  full  mixed 
with  same  quantity  of  water,  drank  during  the 
noon  meal,  a  refreshing  beverage.  The  Aus- 
tralian, however,  cares  little  for  wine.  He 
wants  **ile"  or  ''Scotch",  of  which  he  partakes 
inordinately,  beginning  early  and  keeping  it 
up  until  late.  It  is  no  wonder  the  liver  com- 
plaint is  universal. 

The  mineral  wealth  of  Australia  is  well 
known.  For  sixty  years  it  has  been  one  of  the 
largest  producers  of  gold.  It  has  great  mines 
of  copper,  tin,  silver,  lead  and  iron.  Its  coal 
fields  are  inexhaustible.  In  fine  materials,  no 
country  on  earth  is  richer  in  variety.  Dia- 
monds can  be  mined  with  certainty,  but  the 
find  is  not  large  enough  to  be  profitable. 
Emeralds  are  not  rare,  but  the  crystals  are 
smaller  than  those  of  Columbia,  South  Amer- 
ica. Azurite  is  abundant,  but  only  used  as 
copper  ore.  Malachite,  the  finest  in  the  world, 
of  a  deep  velvety  green,  is  only  copper  ore  to 


22  Australia — The  Country. 

them.  For  about  $2.00  I  bought  a  finer  speci- 
men of  it  than  I  had  ever  seen  in  any  museum 
in  the  United  States  or,  as  I  remember,  in  the 
world.  Sapphires  and  hyacinths,  of  all  colors, 
are  more  abundant  and  cheaper  than  any- 
where else  in  the  world.  Flawless  white  to- 
pazes are  considered  only  as  pretty  pebbles. 
I  had  about  a  dozen  given  me.  Only  for  some 
perfect  crystals  would  they  take  any  price  at 
all.  Tourmalines  are  found,  but  are  rare  and 
highly  prized,  particularly  the  green  ones. 
The  opals  of  Australia  go  all  over  the  world. 
They  are  magnificent,  and  the  mining  of  them, 
and  the  search  for  them,  a  recognized  business. 
It  is  the  chief  gem  business  of  the  country. 

To  the  man  versed  in  Physical  Geography, 
degrees  of  latitude  mean  little.  He  always,  in 
addition,  considers  the  isotherms,  or  degrees 
of  heat.  This  is  brought  forcibly  to  one 's  mind 
when  he  lands  about  the  first  of  April  at  Vic- 
toria, British  Columbia,  and  finds  every  thing 
green  a  full  month  earlier  than  it  would  be  in 
neighborhood  of  Chicago,  800  miles  further 
south.  So  when  we  learn  that  New  South 
Wales  is  about  the  same  latitude  south  as 
North  and  South  Carolina  are  north,  we  may 
not  infer  that  it  has  their  climate.    In  truth 


Australia — The  Country.  23 

I  rather  expected  it  myself,  and  knowing  I  was 
going  there  during  tlie  height  of  their  mid- 
summer, I  braced  myself  up  to  suffer  as  a 
martyr  in  the  cause  of  science.  I  soon  learned 
that  Australia  would  make  an  agreeable  sum- 
mer resort,  at  least  the  eastern  part  of  it 
would.  It  is  both  warmer  in  winter  and  cooler 
in  summer  than  the  Carolinas.  Oranges, 
lemons  and  pomegranates,  although  all  in- 
ferior in  quality,  flourish  in  the  latitude  of 
Sydney,  which  is  about  the  same  degree  as 
Wilmington.  Araucarias  grow  wild  in  the 
woods,  and  the  rubber  tree  is  the  favorite 
shade  tree  in  the  parks  and  yards.  The  Royal 
Palm,  too  delicate  even  for  Florida,  lives  out  of 
doors,  although  not  remarkable  for  size  or 
splendor.  The  bougainvillia  lives  and  blossoms 
in  the  open.  In  fact,  their  excellent  botanical 
garden  proves  that  practically  all  the  tropical 
vegetation  will  live  without  protection. 

In  summer  the  winds,  usually  from  the 
northeast  or  southeast,  always  blow,  coming 
over  7,000  miles  of  the  great  Pacific.  It  may  be 
excessively  hot  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  but 
with  the  night  it  becomes  chilly,  necessitating 
wraps  and  heavy  bedding.  But  whatever  the 
degree  of  heat,  while  the  ladies  dress,  or  un- 


24  Australia — The  Country. 

dress,  to  suit  the  climate,  the  men  never  do. 
Putting  on  light  clothes  and  discarding  the 
waistcoat,  which  last  a  New  Orleans  doctor 
once  told  me  was  the  most  sensible  mode  ever 
introduced  among  the  men,  does  not  find  favor 
with  them.  Dressed  in  dark,  closely-fitting 
coats  and  waistcoats,  they  are  uncomfortable, 
and  look  uncomfortable.  With  perspiration 
pouring  down  their  faces  they  look  at  the 
casual  American,  passing  with  his  loose-fitting 
coat  and  trousers,  and  negligee  shirt,  with  a 
stubborn,  dog-like  air,  as  though  they  would 
say:  "I  know  I  am  suffering,  but  I  will  die  be- 
fore I  break  away  from  London  and  follow 
American  ways."  To  the  said  American  they 
recall  those  famous  words  of  the  poet:  "See 
the  pale  martyr  in  his  shirt  of  fire."  One 
wishes  that  the  royal  family  and  nobility  of 
England  would  issue  a  decree  allowing  the 
Australians  to  discard  their  waistcoats  in 
summer. 

We  may  say  with  positiveness  that  Euro- 
pean blood  does  not  deteriorate  in  Australia. 
If  anything,  it  rather  improves.  The  Aus- 
tralian men  average,  I  think,  rather  greater  in 
height  than  either  the  English  or  Americans, 
but  they  lack  the  breadth  of  shoulders  of  the 


Australia — The  Country.  26 

latter.  We  cannot  say  how  much  of  this 
narrowness  across  the  shoulders  results  from 
the  universal  custom  of  English  tailors  of  mak- 
ing coat  and  waistcoat  too  tight  and  narrow 
across  the  shoulders.  Anyone  who  has  ever 
had  such  work  done  in  London  will  know  what 
I  mean.  Americans,  with  their  loose  coats  and 
padded  shoulders,  striving  for  breadth  in  that 
region,  have  become  broad  shouldered.  My 
first  impression  on  reaching  Honolulu  accentu- 
ated in  Seattle,  was  that  the  Americans  were 
remarkable  for  their  square  build.  The  Aus- 
tralians, bound  from  time  immemorial  in  their 
straight  jackets,  have  grown  narrow  chested, 
while  growth  that  must  come  ran  upwards. 
They  have  lost  none  of  the  virility  of  their 
ancestors.  In  no  country  in  the  world,  not  even 
in  England  nor  in  America,  are  athletic  sports 
so  cultivated.  It  is  an  absorbing  passion  per- 
vading all  classes  and  ages,  and  covers  the 
whole  range  of  sports.  Except  among  college 
students,  pretty  much  all  athletics  in  our 
states  are  given  over  to  professionals.  Not  so 
there.  I  could  see  little  or  no  signs  of  profes- 
sionalism. It  is  town  against  town,  city  against 
city,  province  against  province,  Australia 
against  New  Zealand,  etc.  *  But  our  newspa- 


26  Australia — The  Country. 

pers  are  much  in  error  when  they  assert  that 
baseball  is  becoming  a  favorite  game  there. 
Looking  over  the  sporting  pages  every  day,  I 
never  once  saw  the  name  of  that  game  e^'en 
mentioned.  I  think  it  never  will  be  intro- 
duced. The  mere  fact  that  it  originated  in  the 
United  States,  regardless  of  its  intrinsic 
merit,  will  forever  prevent  its  adoption,  owing 
to  the  Australian  bent,  to  be  treated  ujDon 
hereafter. 

"While  their  excessive  fondness  for  sports  is 
owing  greatly  to  the  fact  that,  looking  to  Eng- 
land for  everything  and  condemning  every- 
thing not  first  favored  there,  willingly  taking 
an  inferior  and  subordinate  position  in  litera- 
ture, theatricals,  arts,  politics,  etc.,  they  must 
let  their  superfluous  enthusiasm  vent  itself 
upon  something,  which  something  most  natur- 
ally gravitates  to  athletic  sports.  Still,  we 
must  say  it  is  a  sign  of  virility,  the  reverse  of 
physical  decadence.  If  Australia  has  any 
national  peculiarity,  we  may  say  it  is  its  pro- 
clivities for  out-of-door  exercises,  accom- 
panied with  the  spirit  of  emulation. 

In  conclusion,  I  think  we  may  assert  that  in 
climate  it  is  superior  to  the  United  States, 
while  in  soil,  barring  the  wonderful  Mississippi 


Australia — The  Country.  27 

Valley,  agricultural  and  mineral  products,  it  is 
as  favorably  situated  as  that  country  for  the 
sustenance  and  physical,  moral  and  industrial 
development  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  the 
human  race.  If  it  does  not  equal  our  country, 
in  its  growth,  in  wealth  and  population,  we 
must  look  for  other  reasons.  We  must  disre- 
gard the  environment  and  the  natural  laws, 
and  look  to  the  people  themselves  and  their  in- 
stitutions. And  this  should  be  done  as  firmly, 
as  mercilessly,  and  yet  as  kindly,  as  with  a 
surgeon's  knife. 


28  Present  State. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Present  State. 

The  population  of  Australia  is  now  about 
four  million  three  hundred  thousand.  These 
are  occupying  a  region  about  as  large  as  the 
United  States.  In  1788  Port  Jackson  (now 
Sydney)  was  founded  as  a  penal  station  for 
criminals  from  England.  *  *  *  ''The  colony, 
however,  from  1821  has  made  a  fair  start  in 
free  industrial  progress."  (Brit.  Enc.)  In  1851 
gold  was  discovered  in  large  quantities,  and 
from  that  date  to  this  the  country  has  been  as 
well  known  as  any  other  to  the  civilized  world. 
So  that  now  we  can  hardly  term  it  a  pioneers' 
country.  The  towns  do  not  have  the  air  of 
frontier  settlements.  Sydney  looks  older  than 
New  York.  It  is  older  than  Chicago,  Seattle 
or  San  Francisco.  The  country  is  making 
heroic  efforts  to  attract  to  its  shores  the  sur- 


Present  State.  2$ 

plus  population  of  Europe.  No  boom  on  any 
newly-built  railroad  in  the  United  States  was 
ever  more  assiduously  worked.  They  hold  it 
up  before  all  the  world  by  immigration  agents 
and  hundreds  of  pamphlets  and  newspaper 
articles  as  the  country  of  all  the  world  best 
fitted  for  the  laboring  man.  They  openly  de- 
clare it  is  the  poor  man's  country,  and  that 
they  will  always  keep  it  the  poor  man's 
country.  As  a  particular  inducement  to  that 
class  they  boast  that  it  is  a  white  man's 
country,  and  that  they  will  always  keep  it  a 
white  man's  country.  In  their  eyes  a  tinge  of 
black,  yellow,  brown  or  red  is  an  unpardonable 
sin.  God  may  permit  it,  but  they  will  not.  But 
God  in  this  respect,  they  think,  showed  a 
lamentable  lack  of  wisdom  in  creating  such. 
Negros,  Hindoos,  Chinese  and  Japanese  are 
wholly  excluded;  even  if  already  British  sub- 
jects; otherwise  no  country  could  go  further  in 
encouraging  immigration,  particularly  from 
the  United  Kingdom  of  England,  Ireland  and 
Scotland.  I  learn  from  the  latest  Australian 
year  book  that  any  woman  of  apparent  good 
character  who  will  say  she  wishes  to  engage  in 
service  will  have  her  passage  money  paid  to 
Australia.    I  suppose  she  may  not  work  longer 


30  Present  State. 

than  a  day.  It  would  seem  from  the  wording 
that  the  declaration  is  sufficient.  That  any 
man  of  family  who  will  advance  five  pounds 
will  have  the  balance  of  the  passage  money  for 
the  entire  family  advanced  by  the  common- 
wealth, and  then  third-class  fares  from  Europe 
are  very  low  by  all  the  lines,  English  and  Ger- 
man. The  trip  need  cost  very  little  more,  time 
considered,  than  an  artisan  or  laborer  would 
pay  in  his  hotel  for  board  while  out  of  work  the 
same  length  of  time.  Reaching  the  desired 
land  an  affectionate  paternal  government  ad- 
vances to  his  aid  and  guides  every  step.  Money 
is  loaned  to  him  sufficient  for  him  to  start  in 
farming  and  to  build  his  house,  payable  in  an- 
nual installments  at  a  low  rate  of  interest, 
while  state-owned  land  is  leased  to  him  for  a 
term  of  years.  On  every  side  he  is  taught  that 
the  goverimient  is  run  solely  for  the  benefit  of 
the  laborer;  that  as  the  state  owns  everything 
and  he  is  the  state,  he  is  actually  and  poten- 
tially rich ;  that  millionaires,  which  terai  in  the 
United  States  is  applied  to  every  man  worth 
$50,000  or  over,  and  corporations  are  not  de- 
sired nor  permitted.  Really  Utopia  is  reached. 
One  wonders  why  with  the  abundance  of  land, 
flour,  meat  and  fish  and  the  favorable  sky, 


Present  State.  81 

the  starving  or  the  ambitious  millions  of 
Europe  do  not  pour  themselves  on  to  their 
shores.  Not  to  go  there  seems  the  height  of 
foolishness  on  the  part  of  any  man  of  the  lower 
classes  of  Europe.  You  would  really  think 
that  not  to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity 
ought  to  deprive  anyone  of  the  submerged 
tenth  of  all  sympathy  and  charitable  assist- 
ance. One  wonders  how  with  all  these  induce- 
ments ships  enough  could  be  found  to  trans- 
port the  seekers  of  the  ideal  and  long-dreamed- 
of  perfect  commonwealth.  In  the  midst  of  this 
pastoral  symphony  breathing  of  peace,  rural 
abundance  and  joy,  he  soon  catches  a  note  of 
discord,  and  as  in  the  overture  to  William  Tell, 
soon  breaks  on  his  ear  a  storm  unparalleled 
with  anything  he  ever  heard  before,  a  storm  of 
curses,  complaints,  fault  finding,  epithets  and 
vituperation.  Instead  of  the  new  land  quiver- 
ing with  life  and  hope  in  the  vanguard  of  pro- 
gress and  advancement,  of  private  wealth  and 
individual  freedom  expanding  by  leaps  and 
bounds,  as  he  and  I  expected  to  find  it,  he 
sees  a  land  decadent  and  moribund,  dragging 
out  its  existence  like  a  young  athlete  of 
gigantic  frame  worn  out  with  his  excesses  and 
bad  habits,  the  object  of  pity  and  almost  dis- 


32  Present  State, 

gust.  Instead  of  the  millions  of  happy  home 
builders  exhausting  the  resources  of  language 
in  praising  their  great  country  and  its  institu- 
tions, looking  forward  to  an  independent  old 
age,  to  their  children  taking  a  higher  position 
in  the  social  scale  than  themselves,  we  find  a 
discontented  disillusioned  crowd  cursing  the 
country  and  all  its  institutions,  and  pointing 
out  the  Argentine,  Canada,  and  trust-ridden 
America  as  more  favored  lands,  where  the 
poor  may  gain  an  honorable  competency.  This 
is  not,  as  in  the  United  States,  confined  to  the 
beer-soaked  bums  of  the  great  cities.  It  is  the 
openly  expressed  opinion  of  the  college  pro- 
fessors, the  successful  business  man,  the  skill- 
ful artisan,  the  da-y  laborer  and  the  hobo.  It  is 
reflected  in  hundreds  of  letters  to  the  news- 
papers which  the  press  there  is  bold  enough  to 
print.  It  is  the  opinion  of  every  man  I  actually 
talked  with,  which  I  may  say  did  not  include 
the  office  holders  nor  their  dependents. 

Is  this  true,  or  do  I  see  yellow?  The  popu- 
lation, mind  you,  is  only  four  million  three 
hundred  thousand.  Of  these  over  one-half  the 
population  reside  in  the  cities,  and  Australia 
is  not  a  manufacturing  country.  In  fact  very 
little  manufacturing  is  done  there.    The  four 


Present  State.  88 

cities  of  Sydney,  Melbourne,  Brisbane  and 
Adelaide  alone  have  nearly  two  millions  of  in- 
habitants. In  those  cities  the  unemployed 
swarm  by  thousands.  On  every  side  one  is 
importuned  for  a  penny  or  tuppence.  Where 
a  man  is  so  importuned  once  in  Chicago  he  is 
ten  times  solicited  in  Sydney.  From  morning 
until  night  the  wharves  swarm  with  idle  men 
whose  visages  express  only  hopelessness  and 
despair.  I  am  always  willing  to  pay  some- 
thing for  information  and  the  invariable  reply 
to  my  questions  in  return  for  my  pittance  was : 
**  Australia  has  nothing  for  the  laborer  but  the 
sheep  farm.  There  is  not  much  in  that  with 
the  market  14,000  miles  away,  while  its  pursuit 
is  a  living  death. 

As  soon  as  the  train  leaves  the  great  city  you 
are  in  the  wilderness.  That  sense  of  fatness 
even  to  bursting  that  pervades  the  favorable 
regions  of  the  United  States  is  wholly  missing. 
The  people  with  their  primitive  surroundings 
and  improvements  seem  not  to  be  living  but 
camping.  It  is  the  bush.  They  are  pioneers 
with  the  intention  of  returning  home.  They 
are  colonists.  It  is  down  under.  They  are 
apologetic.  The  man's  grandfather  may  have 
immigrated  but  "Home"  lies  on  the  other  side 


34  Present  State, 

of  the  world.  They  looked  kind  of  surprised 
when  I  told  them  that  in  all  my  life  I  had  never 
heard  a  person  who  had  been  born  in  the 
United  States  speak  of  any  other  land  as 
home.  That  pride  in  their  country,  that  deep- 
seated  love  for  the  soil  and  air  that  is  so  per- 
ceptible even  in  the  children  born  of  foreign 
born  parents  in  the  United  States  is  noticeably 
absent.  Almost  the  first  utterances  of  the 
American-born  child  are  to  deride  the  habits, 
language  and  land  of  his  fathers.  The  mere 
fact  that  they  did  so-and-so  in  the  old  country 
will  make  the  immigrants'  children  shun  fol- 
lowing the  same  manners.  If  the  parent  ad- 
dresses his  child  in  the  language  of  the  father- 
land the  child  replies  in  the  language  of  the 
United  States,  nor  will  whipping  prevent  him. 
The  Australian  child  is  ever  fearful  lest  some 
thought,  some  expression  or  some  step  will 
show  his  colonial  origin.  He  is  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land.  As  to  yourself,  when  in  the 
country  you  do  not  feel  that  you  are  in  another 
nation  as  you  do  in  Spain,  or  Morocco  or 
Columbia.  Nor  do  you  feel  as  though  you 
were  in  your  own,  and  the  country  towns  im- 
press you  just  as  unfavorably.  Where  you 
expect  to  see  important  shire  towns  like  Gales- 


Present  State.  35 

burg  or  Kankakee  are  found  only  collections 
of  ramshackle  sheds  with  its  business  houses 
no  better.  Even  important  railroad  towns  that 
you  would  expect  to  be  like  Fort  Wayne  or 
Wichita,  to  your  surprise  you  find  with  their 
chief  business  streets  a  row  of  shanties  one 
board,  thick  with  hit-and-miss  sidewalks,  that 
is,  one  business  place  will  have  a  walk  in  front 
of  it  and  perhaps  the  next  not  even  that,  while 
in  its  shops  you  will  search  in  vain  for  some 
characteristic  Australian  object.  Every  object 
you  see  is  either  made  in  England  or  so  close 
an  imitation  of  an  English  object  that  you  can- 
not distinguish.  In  the  largest  city  or  the 
smallest  village  the  clock  seems  turned  back 
sixty  years  to  the  beginning  of  our  civil  war, 
and  you  somehow  feel  that  it  never  will  ad- 
A'ance.  As  the  biblical  apologists  claim  that 
anterior  to  the  creation  there  was  no  time,  so 
you  feel  that  for  Australia  the  clock  has 
stopped.    In  that  country  there  is  no  time. 

Every  boat  leaving  for  British  Columbia  is 
filled  in  all  three  classes  with  people  intending 
to  settle  in  Canada  or  the  United  States.  The 
boat  I  came  in  had  six  stowaways.  I  can  offer 
no  proof,  but  I  estimate  that  today  300,000 
men  and  women  in  Australia  would  start  for 


36  Present  State. 

those  countries  if  their  passage  money  were 
paid.  To  hundreds  of  state-assisted  immi- 
grants that  country  is  only  a  temporary  stop- 
ping place  on  the  route  to  Vancouver. 

Mexico  is  always  referred  to  as  the  land  of 
manana,  the  place  of  the  morrow,  where  it  is 
always  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  so 
forth.  To  me  who  has  made  nine  trips  to 
Mexico  extending  over  some  twenty  years, 
during  which  I  have  visited  practically  every 
part  of  it,  it  seems  compared  with  Australia  as 
a  land  forging  ahead  with  almost  incredible 
speed.  English,  Germans,  French,  Italians, 
Spanish,  Chinese,  Japanese  and  Americans  are 
pouring  into  the  country  by  thousands,  while 
under  the  fostering  care  of  President  Diaz, 
easily  the  greatest  man  now  on  earth,  beside 
whom  all  our  English  and  American  politi- 
cians are  but  children,  wealth  is  piling  up  with 
rapidity.  Within  twenty  years  it  has  placed 
itself  among  the  foremost  nations  of  the  earth. 
I  have  no  figures  at  hand  as  to  its  increase  by 
immigration,  but  the  large  cities  such  as 
Puebla,  Guadalajara  and  Mexico  City  seem  to 
me  much  more  modern  and  convenient  in  their 
way  of  living  than  those  in  Australia,  while 
the  tremendous  increase  in  the   number   of 


Present  State.     '  37 

great  factories  proves  to  the  sight  its  pros- 
perity. 

Canada  has  not  anywhere  a  pleasant  cli- 
mate. Except  for  two  months  in  the  summer  I 
never  heard  of  anyone  seeking  it  for  that  rea- 
son. For  generations  it  has  been  the  stock 
subject  for  jokes  by  Americans  on  account  of 
its  sleepiness.  From  Saturday  to  Monday  in 
any  of  its  towns  is  said  to  be  an  ordinary  life 
time,  and  yet  no  country  on  earth  is  today  the 
scene  of  greater  activity  and  progress.  Com- 
ing out  of  Vancouver  by  way  of  the  Great 
Northern  Railway  on  my  way  home,  the  third 
time  I  had  visited  the  city,  as  I  saw  the  hun- 
dreds of  new  frame  buildings  lying  at  one  time 
within  sight  like  the  camp  of  some  great  army, 
I  turned  to  a  companion  of  the  boat  and  re- 
marked: ''That  is  more  new  building  than  I 
saw  in  all  my  stay  in  Australia."  United 
States  government  figures  right  at  hand  show 
that  for  the  twelve  months  ending  March  31, 
1910,  American  citizens  to  the  number  of 
103,789  departed  for  a  permanent  residence  in 
Canada.  How  many  at  the  same  time  came 
from  Europe  and  Asia  I  have  no  means  of 
ascertaining  without  research  and  inquiry. 


^8  Present  Stat^. 

A  gentleman  from  Michigan  in  conversation 
with  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  Syd- 
ney, in  my  presence,  expressed  himself  as  fol- 
lows: ''Australia  impresses  me  as  a  country 
suffering  from  the  dry  rot."  As  I  thought  at 
the  time  a  very  apt  allusion. 

A  commercial  traveling  man,  born  there, 
who  went  all  over  Australia  twice  a  year,  with 
whom  I  conversed  on  a  train,  said:  "No  man 
has  any  business  to  come  to  Australia  who  is 
not  ready  to  do  any  rough  work  that  turns 
up. ' '  I  replied : ' '  That  explains  to  me  the  tre- 
mendous immigration  from  the  United  King- 
dom into  the  United  States.  Do  you  think  an 
expert  book-keeper,  plumber  or  machinist  will 
come  to  this  country,  live  in  the  bush  and 
shear  or  herd  sheep  for  four  shillings  a  day 
when  he  can  command  five  or  six  dollars  per 
day  in  our  large  cities'?"  He  further  said: 
"We  traveling  men  know  the  drawbacks  and 
deficiencies  of  the  country  as  well  as  anyone 
can  tell  us,  but  we  are  powerless.  The  poli- 
ticians control  everything."  In  all  my  travels 
I  have  found  commercial  travelers  the  most  in- 
telligent men  I  converse  with.  On  board  the 
steamer  with  his  wife,  bound  for  Seattle  to 
live,  was  a  young  civil  engineer.    Both  of  them 


Present  State.  89 

were  natives  of  Melbourne.  They  were  travel- 
ing first-class  and  they  were  both  such  in 
every  respect,  both  as  to  education  and  breed- 
ing. He  said:  "With  the  highest  techineal 
education  to  be  procured  with  money  I  find 
myself  constrained  to  leave  my  native  land. 
There  is  nothing  there  for  a  man  of  my  stamp. 
I  know  what  I  am  talking  about  for  I  have  en- 
circled the  globe  and  have  seen  the  United 
States  before.  No  scientific  man  can  have  a 
career  there  except  as  a  favor  from  some 
political  boss.  Every  year  shows  it  nearer  to 
pure  socialism." 

*'A11  this",  says  the  Englishman  who  has 
never  been  in  Australia,  ''is  merely  your  un- 
corroborated assertion."  We  will  call  in  their 
own  opinions.  One  of  these  clippings  is  from 
the  Sydney  Herald,  the  other  from  the  Sydney 
Times,  the  two  great  morning  papers  of  the 
city: 

NOTES  AND  COMMENTS. 

The  net  number  of  arrivals  over  departures  into  the 
Commonwealth  last  year  is  officially  stated  as  28,933, 
against  13,150  during  the  previous  year. 


Some  improvement  is  apparent,  but  the  aggregate 
figures  are  still  painfully  small. 


40 


Present  State. 


A  satisfactory  expansion  is  shown  in  the  Common- 
wealth immigration  returns  for  last  year.  The  net 
addition  through  immigration  to  the  population  of 
Australia  was  28,933,  or  more  than  double  what  it  was 
in  the  previous  year.  The  following  classifies  the 
countries  from  which  immigrants  arrived,  and  for 
which  emigrants  departed  : — 


COMMONWEALTH  IMMIGRATION  RETURNS. 

19J8.                      1 

1909. 

Arriv. 

Depart. 

Net 
Gain. 

Arriv. 

Depart. 

Net 
Gain. 

U.  K 

Rest  of  Em- 
pire    

21,416 

39,838 

12,086 
38,320 

9,330 
1,518 

29,959 

40,773 

12,490 
33,047 

17,469 

7,276 

Total  British 
Foreign   

61,254 
10,954 

50,406 

8,652 

10,848 
2,302 

70,732 

12,877 

45,537 
9,139 

25,195 

3,738 

Totals    .... 

72,208 

59,058 

13,150 

83,609 

54,676 

28,933 

Taking  the  white  nationalities,  the  year's  net  im- 
migration was  29,703,  as  compared  with  14,345  in  1908. 
As  regards  colored  races,  the  departures  exceeded  the 
arrivals  by  770,  as  against  1190  in  1908.  There  is 
always  shown  an  excess  of  colored  departures,  es- 
pecially Chinese ;  and  yet  the  numbers  do  not  decrease. 

The  following  is  from  one  of  those  two 
papers,  I  did  not  label  it.  I  had  already  learned 
by  numerous  references  as  an  old  piece  of 
news  that  the  Swedish  and  Norwegian  govern- 
ments had  already  issued  similar  warnings : 


Present  State.  41 

.    EMIGRANTS  WARNED. 


"Don't  Go  To  Australia. 


By  Telegraph. — Press  Association. —  Copyright. 

Copenhagen,  February  8. 
The  Danish  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  has  issued 
in  the  newspapers  a  notice  dissuading  emigrants  from 
going  to  AustraHa  and  New  Zealand,  as  the  difficulties 
of  subsistence  there  have  increased  considerably. 

And  here  is  an  Australian 's  opinion  of  state 
of  affairs : 

SYDNEY'S  PHENOMENAL  GROWTH. 


(For  the  "Sunday  Times.") 
Sydney  now  contains  more  inhabitants  than  any 
city  of  the  civilized  world  did  at  the  beginning  of  last 
century,  except  London  alone.  It  contains  more  than 
any  did  seventy-five  years  ago,  barring  London  and 
Paris.  Still,  though  its  growth  has  been  wonderfully 
fast,  it  does  not  constitute  a  record,  several  American 
cities  having  surpassed  it  in  the  rapidity  with  which 
they  have  attracted  population.  What,  however,  does 
constitute  a  record,  shared  with  Melbourne  and  Ade- 
laide, is  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  State  of  which 
it  is  the  capital,  over  a  third  are  collected  within  its 
limits.  And  the  proportion  within  them  is  steadily 
increasing. 

Some  people  profess  to  regard  this  citification,  as 
one  may  call  it,  of  our  population  with  complacency. 
But  can  a  country  be  called  healthy  in  which  600,000 
people  choose  to  pack  themselves  within  142  square 
miles  leaving  to  1,000,000  the  remaining  310,230  square 
miles — i200  per  square  mile  on  a  tiny  morsel  of  the 
area  of  the  country  and  3  per  square  mile  on  all  the 


42  Present  State. 

rest?  Of  course,  an  even  larger  proportion  of  Victor- 
ians and  South  Australians  are  to  be  found  in  Mel- 
bourne and  Adelaide,  but  nowhere  outside  of  the  Com- 
monwealth is  anything  in  the  remotest  degree  ap- 
proaching such  a  state  of  things  to  be  met  with. 

Out  of  4,300,000  Australians  inhabiting  a  continent 
nearly  as  large  as  Europe,  some  400  square  miles 
suffice  1,500,000  of  them,  and  to  the  balance  of  2,800,000 
are  abandoned  2,972,506  miles.  On  an  area  so  small 
as  to  appear  only  a  dot  on  an  ordinary  map,  4000 
people  to  the  square  mile,  on  the  remainder  not  quitP 
one  to  that  space ! 

It  may  seem  to  a  writer  in  a  daily  paper,  who 
asserts  that  Sydney  grows  because  it  is  entitled  to 
grow,  and  because  it  is  best  for  the  country,  that  the 
accumulation  of  so  enormous  a  proportion  of  our  Aus- 
tralian population  within  three  or  four  cities  is  a  good 
thing.  It  will  appear  so  to  no  authority  outside  of 
the  Commonwealth.  For  how  does  it  happen  if  this 
be  a  sign  of  progress  that  Australia  is,  as  a  whole,  the 
most  backward — and  by  very  much  the  most  back- 
ward— of  all  new  countries  in  respect  of  population  in- 
crease? We  are  not  adding  half  as  many  to  our  num- 
bers annually  as  the  United  States,  with  a  very  much 
less  area,  were  doing  a  hundred  years  ago.  We  are 
not  adding  a  third  as  many  as  Canada  and  Argentina 
are  doing  now.  Has  the  exceptional  influence  which 
their  numbers  give  the  city  populations  over  the  coun- 
try nothing  to  do  with  this  stagnation? 

It  has.  As  while  a  tumor  swells  the  body  in  general 
suffers,  so  while  the  cities  flourish  the  State  stagnates. 
To  a  certain  extent  the  growth  of  Sydney,  to  take 
our  own  case  only,  arises  from  natural  causes.  But 
to  these  natural  causes  have  been  superadded  artificial 
ones  in  the  concentration  through  our  centralized  form 
of  Government — the  most  centralized  in  the  world, 
Russia  included,  until  four  or  five  years  ago — of  every 


Present  State.  48 

kind  of  enterprise,  institution  or  calling  over  which 
Government  has  control  on  the  banks  of  Port  Jackson. 
Moreover,  Government  has  there  encouraged  by  its 
example  and  by  legislation,  the  raising  of  wages  and 
shortening  of  hours  until  city  conditions  of  work  are 
so  much  superior  to  rural  conditions  that  country  boys 
scorn  to  remain  on  the  land,  and  flock  to  Sydney.  For 
any  city  job  there  are  always  abundance  of  applicants. 
Farmers  and  ploughmen  must  be  imported  from  the 
other  side  of  the  globe.  Even  now,  while  meetings  of 
unemployed  are  being  held  in  Melbourne,  few  Victori- 
ans can  be  got  to  take  up  the  blocks  of  the  lately- 
opened  irrigation  settlements,  and  those  who  have 
taken  blocks  up  cannot  obtain  labor  to  help  starting 
work  on  them.  Everywhere,  of  course,  the  town  has 
an  attraction  for  the  countryman.  Nowhere  but  in 
Australia  do  Governments  deliberately  increase  this 
attraction. 

The  scantiness  of  our  population  compared  with  the 
magnitude  of  our  territory  is  a  terrible  peril  in  this 
age  of  national  land  hunger.  The  peculiar  distribution 
of  that  population  doubles  the  peril.  Were  our  4,300,- 
000  scattered  about  Temperate  Australia  only,  leaving 
the  tropics  on  one  side,  we  should  be  in  a  very  much 
more  formidable  position  for  defence  than  we  are. 
Suppose  that  the  Transvaal  and  Free  State  Boers,  in- 
stead of  occupying  a  back  country  and  following  rural 
occupations,  had  been  strung  along  the  South  African 
coast  from  Durban  to  Capetown,  living  most  of  them 
in  towns,  how  long  would  they  have  held  out  against 
a  quarter  of  the  British  troops  it  actually  took  to  sub- 
due them? 

And  another,  same  paper : 

THE  FILLING  OF  PAPUA. 

The  blindness  of  even  prominent  Australians  to  the 
scantiness  of  our  population  is  appalling.     "I   think 


44  Present  State. 

Papua  is  bound  to  become  a  very  valuable  asset  to  the 
Commonwealth  as  well  as  to  the  British  Empire.  The 
spare  places  of  the  earth  are,  year  by  year,  being  filled 
up  and  utilized,  and  here  we  have  90,000  square  miles 
of  territory,  with  soil  and  climate  most  suitable  for 
the  growth  of  many  most  valuable  products  which 
always  command  the  world's  market."  Mr.  J.  G. 
Jenkins,  ex-Agent-General  for  South  Australia,  is  the 
author  of  this  very  droll  statement — droll  not  because 
it  exaggerates  the  resources  of  the  territory,  but  be- 
cause of  the  cool  assumption  that  it  is  one  of  the 
"spare  places  of  the  world,"which  ought  to  be  filled  up. 
Is  this  gentleman  aware  that  Paupa  is,  according  to 
estimate,  nearly  four  times  as  thickly  populated  as  the 
Commonwealth,  over  six  times  as  much  so  as  Queens- 
land, twelve  times  as  much  so  as  South  Australia,  and 
twenty  times  as  much  so  as  West  Australia?  If  he 
is  not,  he  ought,  from  the  positions  he  has  held,  to 
possess  this  knowledge.  At  the  present  rate  of  in- 
crease it  will  not  be  till  near  the  close  of  the  century 
that  the  Commonwealth  will  be  able  to  boast  of  having 
as  many  people  to  the  square  mile  as  this  empty  ter- 
ritory of  Mr.  Jenkins'  has,  and  as  to  his  own  State, 
several  hundred  years  will  apparently  have  to  elapse 
before  it  attains  this  figure. 

I  think  these  statements  ought  to  convince 
anyone  that  I  have  really  understated  the 
matter.  What  conclusion  can  one  derive  from 
these  figures  after  considering  all  that  nature 
has  done  for  Australia  other  than  that  there  is 
something  rotten  somewhere'?  That  in  two 
years  with  all  their  prepaid  and  assisted  immi- 
grants, and  their  homes  all  furnished  to  new 


Present  State.  4B 

settlers,  only  a  net  increase  of  42,083  is  rather 
staggering.  If  these  were  supposed  to  be  per- 
manent gains  it  would  be  one  thing.  But  great 
advertisements  and  inducements  will  draw  a 
crowd  anywhere.  To  hold  them  is  another 
matter.  Australia  has  no  more  success  in  hold- 
ing them  than  it  has  in  drawing  them.  Those 
figures  show  that  while  in  1909  83,609  came  in 
at  the  same  time  54,676  left.  How  many  of 
the  28,933  remaining  will  be  found  there  ?  Ac- 
cording to  their  own  figures,  from  one-third  to 
one-sixth.  As  it  would  take  a  Napoleonic 
revolution  to  produce  a  reaction,  what  better 
can  they  look  forward  to  in  the  future?  And 
probably  when  the  Napoleon  or  Diaz  arises  he 
will  be  heartily  welcomed.  The  best  elements 
on  the  continent  would  be  glad  to  see  him  now. 
After  reading  above  clipping  the  Englishman 
who  has  never  been  there  must  admit  that 
either  the  institutions  of  the  commonwealth 
are  diseased  or  that  the  people  are  diseased. 

Apropos  nothing  in  particular  except  to 
show  that  parts  of  Australia  are  still  in  the 
condition  that  the  United  Sates  were  a  hun- 
dred 3^ears  ago,  I  insert  the  account  of  a  little 
incident  that  occurred  while  I  was  there.  It 
was  taken  from  the  Sydney  Morning  Herald : 


46  Present  State. 

TRIBAL  FIGHT. 


In  Northern  Territory. 


Marauders  Hacked  to  Death. 


Port  Darwin,  Saturday. 
James  Runcie  M'Pherson,  who  arrived  here  a  few 
days  ago  in  his  higger  from  a  trepanging  expedition 
along  the  coast  to  eastward,  reports  that  while  working 
in  Rolling  Bay  he  witnessed  a  singularly  ferocious  and 
fatal  tribal  fight  between  50  Junction  Bay  natives  em- 
ployed by  him  in  trepanging  and  a  marauding  expedi- 
tion of  Liverpool  River  natives,  numbering  30  or  40 
braves.  The  fight  took  place  on  a  cleared  space  near 
the  seashore.  M'Pherson  pulled  ashore  to  his  smoke- 
house on  the  morning  of  January  24,  and  noticed  that 
only  a  few  of  his  working  natives  were  about.  He  was 
told  they  were  expecting  a  fight  with  hostile  natives. 
At  about  4  p.  m.  that  day  a  peculiarly  blood-curdling 
yell  rang  out  from  some  bushes  about  200  yards  away, 
and  immediately  following  this  scores  of  ghastly  white- 
painted  figures  darted  out  from  thick  bushes  on  either 
side  of  the  clearing  at  the  rear  of  the  smokehouse. 
The  air  was  soon  thick  with  flying  spears,  and  the 
combatants  approached  within  15  yards  of  each  other. 
The  spears  used  were  large,  heavy  barbed  ones.  The 
natives  on  either  side  showed  amazing  quickness  in 
avoiding  or  warding  ofif  these  barb-pointed  death- 
dealers.  In  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  nearly  all  the 
spears  were  broken.  One  of  the  Junction  Bay  natives 
was  then  transfixed  by  a  large  spear  as  he  was  in  the 
act  of  stooping  to  pick  up  a  spear  thrown  by  an 
opponent.  The  transfixing  of  this  man  seemed  to  fill 
both  sides  with  ferocious  fury.  They  immediately 
closed,  and  a  furious  hand-to-hand  melee  ensued. 


Present  State.  47 

The  Junction  Bay  natives  had  an  advantage  in  num- 
bers and  weapons,  being  armed  with  knives,  toma- 
hawks, and  iron  bars  4ft  long  made  from  hatch  battens 
taken  from  the  wreck  of  the  steamer  AustraHan. 
Their  opponents  had  only  ordinary  bush  waddies  and 
woomeras.  The  iron  bars  proved  deadly  weapons, 
inflicting  ghastly  wounds  wherever  they  struck. 
Within  half  an  hour  the  survivors  of  the  marauding 
party  fled  into  the  scrup,  leaving  11  of  their  number 
on  the  field.  These  were  immeadiately  hacked  and 
beaten  to  death  with  tomahawks  and  iron  bars.  Those 
who  fled  were  pursued,  and  M'Pherson  thinks  that  few, 
if  any,  escaped.  On  going  ashore  on  the  following 
morning  M'Pherson  found  that  all  the  bodies  had  been 
cremated,  only  a  few  charred  bones  being  left  in  the 
still  smouldering  fire.  M'Pherson  states  that  a  won- 
derful lot  of  odds  and  ends  from  the  wreck  of  the 
steamer  Australian  is  to  be  found  among  the  natives. 
Hundreds  of  miles  down  the  coast  in  one  camp  he 
found  a  much-prized  oval  mirror,  which  probably  once 
adorned  one  of  the  steamer's  saloon  cabins. 

The  natives  of  Liverpool  River  are  of  an  excep- 
tionally treacherous  and  murderous  character,  as 
proved  by  several  outrages  perpetrated  in  the  neigh- 
borhood during  recent  years.  It  was  in  this  neighbor- 
hood that  two  buffalo  hunters  named  Moore  and 
McKenzie  were  killed  in  1898,  but  in  that  case  it  was 
shown  that  the  murdered  men  had  provoked  the  natives 
by  forcibly  abducting  native  women.  They  were  shot 
with  their  own  rifles  by  two  natives  named  Copperang 
and  Nabaloora,  who  were  arrested,  tried,  and  sentenced 
to  death.  Owing  to  the  proven  facts,  however,  the 
death  sentence  was  commuted,  and  after  remaining  in 
goal  11  months  both  were  released.  They  returned 
to  their  own  country,  and  probably  are  still  alive,  and 
may  be  more  dangerous  as  the  result  of  their  brief 
experience  of  the  white  man's  different  ways.     It  is 


48  Present  State. 

only  a  few  months  since  that  Mr.  M'Pherson  narrowly 
escaped  being  speared  to  death  while  carrying  on  tre- 
panging  operations  in  the  Liverpool  River  mouth.  On 
that  occasion,  he  was  suddenly  and  treacherously  at- 
tacked by  a  number  of  these  natives  while  temporarily 
resting  in  the  smokehouse,  in  which  he  had  been  en- 
gaged curing  trepang.  All  his  own  boys  at  this  time 
were  away  in  canoes  gathering  trepang.  His  first  in- 
timation of  danger  was  the  suspicious  swishing  of  a 
dozen  or  more  large  spears  through  the  bough-covered 
structure  in  which  he  was  sitting,  smoking  and  half 
dreaming.  Fortunately,  he  was  armed  with  a  rifle  and 
revolver,  and  retreated  back  towards  the  edge  of  the 
water,  while  15  or  20  yelling,  dancing  natives  con- 
gregated on  the  scrub-covered  bank  behind  the  smoke- 
house, and  continued  hurling  spears.  Some  of  these 
he  warded  off  with  the  rifle,  and  others  he  dodged ; 
while  springing  to  one  side  to  avoid  one  spear,  another 
missile  struck  him  on  the  point  of  the  hip.  The  sharp 
barbed  point  penetrated  downwards  nine  inches  into 
the  fleshy  part  of  the  thigh.  At  the  moment  he  felt 
only  a  sharp  twinge  of  pain,  and  broke  the  spear  shaft 
off  with  his  hand.  He  then  fired  and  shot  one  of  the 
natives,  and  the  remainder  disappeared  in  the  scrub. 
Subsequently,  on  board  his  lugger,  he  made  fast  a 
lanyard  to  the  broken  spearhead,  and  himself  dragged 
it  out  by  main  strength,  but  eight  of  the  barbed  points 
broke  off  and  remained  in  the  wound.  Nearly  two 
weeks  elapsed  before  he  reached  Port  Darwin,  and  he 
suffered  excruciating  agonies  in  the  meantime.  He 
was  operated  on  at  the  Palmerston  Hospital,  and  eight 
broken  barbed  points  were  extracted  from  the  wound. 
This  incident  occurred  in  July,  1909.  On  the  present 
occasion,  Mr.  M'Pherson  states  that  when  he  heard  the 
signal  cry  come  from  the  scrub,  he  was  sitting  on  an 
upturned  bucket  near  the  smokehouse  cutting  up  to- 
bacco preparatory  to  having  a  comfortable  smoke.    He 


Present  State.  49 

remained  a  passive  and  fascinated  spectator  to  the 
whole  gruesome  tableaux  which  occurred  within  100 
yards  of  where  he  was  sitting.  The  whirring  rush  of 
heavy  spears  to  and  fro,  the  ghost-like  way  in  which 
the  wild,  white-painted  forms  on  each  side  avoid 
these,  bounding  high  in  the  air,  then  leaping  on  one 
side,  and  at  times  dashing  the  spears  aside  with  sweep- 
ing cuts  of  their  woomeras  or  waddies,  giving  vent 
the  while  to  wild  yells  and  harsh  cries  of  defiance,  made 
a  weird  and  savage  picture.  When  Mr.  M'Pherson's 
Junction  Bay  boy  Billy  was  speared  towards  the  end 
of  this  duel  of  spears,  both  sides  appeared  to  go  mad 
with  fury,  and  become  devoid  of  all  sense  of  fear. 
As  Billy  fell,  transfixed  by  a  great  barbed  spear,  they 
"saw  red,"  and,  as  if  fired  by  mutual  impulse,  both 
sides  closed  up,  and  a  fierce  hand-to-hand  melee  en- 
sued, such  as  Mr.  M'Pherson  had  never  previously 
witnessed  between  natives.  In  their  horrible  white 
masks  of  warpaint,  and  with  blazing  eyes  and  every 
feature  instinct  with  the  pure  savage,  devilish  and 
murderous  lust  for  blood,  they  presented  a  fearsome 
and  terrifying  spectacle  to  the  lonely  onlooker.  On 
the  termination  of  the  fight,  and  when  the  victors 
started  to  dash  out  the  brains  of  the  disabled  with  iron 
bars  and  tomahawks,  Mr.  M'Pherson,  sickned  by  the 
spectacle,  started  to  walk  down  to  his  dinghey.  Be- 
fore he  reached  his  boat,  however,  a  dozen  of  the 
Junction  Bay  boys  came  running  after  him,  demanding 
his  rifle.  Several  were  bespattered  with  blood,  and 
on  their  condition  of  murderous  excitement,  he  deemed 
it  wise  to  comply  with  their  demand.  He  shpped  out 
the  cartridges,  and  immediately  thereafter  the  weapon 
was  plucked  suddenly  from  his  hand,  and  the  whole 
party  dashed  off  in  pursuit  of  their  enemies.  He  had 
hardly  got  on  board  his  lugger  when  some  of  them 
came   running  with   the   empty   rifle,  clamouring  for 


50  Present  State. 

cartridges,  but  to  this  demand  he  did  not  think  wise 
to  yield. 

The  party  of  Junction  Bay  natives  who  went  in 
pursuit  of  their  foes  did  not  return  to  the  camp  until 
late  the  following  day.  When  questioned  by  Mr. 
M'Pherson,  they  denied  having  overtaken  any  of  the 
Liverpool  River  natives,  but  as  several  of  them  bore 
dried  bloodstains  on  their  bodies,  and  they  appeared 
completely  exhausted,  Mr.  M'Pherson  believes  further 
fighting  took  place  in  the  bush,  and  that  few  of  the 
murderers  lived  to  return  to  their  homes. 

Polling  Bay  is  a  kind  of  neutral  territory,  situated 
between  Junction  Bay  and  the  Liverpool  River,  and 
the  bulk,  or  more,  of  Junction  Bay  natives  were  em- 
ployed by  Mr.  M'Pherson  in  his  trepanging  business. 
Mr.  M'Pherson  has  brought  back  with  him  the  Junction 
Bay  native  who  was  wounded,  also  the  spear  which 
caused  the  wound,  and  several  other  specimens  of  the 
battle. 

Bearing  nothing  on  the  question  under  dis- 
cussion, nevertheless  it  ought  to  be  preserved 
as  a  sidelight  on  the  present  history  of  the 
continent. 


The  Way  Thither.  51 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Way  Thither. 

There  are  two  routes  from  the  United  States 
to  Australia.  On  one  you  go  to  Vancouver, 
British  Columbia,  and  take  the  monthly  boat 
which  sails  under  British  flags.  By  these 
boats,  ostensibly  run  by  the  Canadian  Pacific 
R.  R.,  but  really  by  the  Union  Steamship  Co., 
of  New  Zealand,  you  can  change  boats  at  the 
Fiji  Islands  for  Aukland,  N.  Z.,  or  continue  on 
to  same  place  by  way  of  Brisbane  and  Sydnej^, 
Australia.  Or  you  can  go  to  San  Francisco  and 
take  the  Mariposa,  an  American  boat  running 
every  thirty-six  days  to  Tahiti,  the  French 
island  in  the  South  Pacific,  where  after  a 
week's  wait  you  can  take  a  British  boat  for 
Wellington,  New  Zealand;  or  after  a  three 
weeks'  wait  you  can  take  a  British  boat  for 
Aukland  on  the  north  end  of  that  island  direct. 


52  The  Way  Thither. 

Owing  to  the  ignorance  or  shortsightedness  of 
our  bucolic  congressmen  from  Iowa  and  Kan- 
sas, who  did  not  even  know  there  is  an  ocean, 
in  refusing  a  subsidy  there  is  no  line  of  steam- 
ers direct  to  Australasia  thus  causing  untold 
loss  to  our  trade  with  these  countries.  There 
are  no  steamships  navigating  the  prairies  of 
Iowa,  why  should  they  navigate  the  Pacific? 
What  concern  have  we  with  countries  where 
it  is  night  when  day  here,  and  where  it  is  sum- 
mer when  winter  here?  The  less  we  have  to 
do  with  foreign  countries  anyhow  the  better. 
They  do  not  vote  for  president  and  congress- 
men. If  they  had  seen  as  I  saw  the  steamer 
almost  loaded  with  the  oranges  and  lemons  of 
California  consigned  to  New  Zealand,  and  the 
British  boat  load  on  at  Brisbane,  Australia, 
600  cases  of  dried  onions  consigned  to  Seattle, 
U.  S.,  they  would  think  as  I  think  that  this  is 
only  one  little  world,  and  the  more  people  of 
different  climes  trade  with  each  other  the 
more  they  are  all  benefited.  My  grocer  keeps 
a  delivery  wagon  with  horse.  It  costs  some- 
thing to  be  sure,  but  he  is  correspondingly 
benefited  in  his  business;  otherwise  he  would 
not  keep  one.  On  the  other  hand  I  never  knew 
our  congress  to  refuse  to  increase  its  member- 


The  Way  Thither.  53 

ship,  their  own  salaries,  or  to  build  great  office 
buildings  costing  millions  for  their  own  indi- 
vidual convenience.  These  were  my  thoughts 
when  on  going  from  New  Orleans  to  the  Isth- 
mus of  Panama  I  found  I  had  to  take  a  Nor- 
wegian vessel,  there  being  no  American  boat 
leading  from  the  heart  of  our  country  to  the 
place  where  we  are  supporting  a  great  army 
of  men  and  spending  six  hundred  millions  of 
dollars. 

As  it  is  there  would  be  no  American  Mari- 
posa leaving  the  United  States  for  Tahiti  did 
not  the  French  government  grant  it  a  subsidy 
as  the  shortest  and  quickest  route  for  its  mails 
to  its  archipelago.  Even  that  has  resulted  in 
making  those  islands  virtually  an  appendage 
to  this  country.  Only  the  flag  and  officials  are 
French.  One  feels,  however,  like  congratulat- 
ing the  islanders  for  being  under  that  flag,  as 
for  this  reason  the  happy,  amiable  disposition 
of  their  people  has  not  yet  been  soured  and 
crushed  by  puritanism. 

As  I  had  had  Tahiti  on  my  slate  for  years, 
had  not  been  in  Frisco  after  the  great  fire,  and 
naturally  preferred  the  southern  route,  I  took 
the  Mariposa. 

The  voyage  to  Tahiti  is  a  pleasant  trip;  the 


5i  The  Way  Thither. 

boat  a  comfortable  one  with  large  roomy 
berths  and  cabins,  the  officers  gentlemanly.  To 
a  lover  of  the  sea,  like  myself,  the  trip  was  even 
fascinating.  The  gradual  dropping  of  our 
northern  constellations  and  the  arising  of  new 
ones,  the  perfect  health  and  renewal  of  youth- 
ful enthusiasm,  the  absence  of  all  cares  other 
than  those  pertaining  to  childhood,  mere  eat- 
ing and  sleeping,  causes  one  to  plan  still  other 
voyages,  and  like  Ulysses  to  keep  them  up 
even  if  eighty  years,  should  come  to  chill  one 's 
ardor  in  other  directions.  All  other  pleasures 
and  experiences  pall  upon  one  with  advancing 
years.  The  feel  and  smell  of  the  salt  sea 
breeze  in  the  tropics  retain  to  the  last  the  zest 
they  had  for  me  when  at  twentj^-two  at  Savan- 
nah, Georgia,  I  first  glanced  over  the  ocean 
and  realized  my  dreams.  It  was  a  typical 
Pacific  crowd.  The  group  of  Chinese  going  to 
the  archipelago  "in  bond",  the  French  officials 
returning  from  a  vacation  in  France,  the 
crowd  of  tourists  bound  only  to  Tahiti,  the 
Britishers  bound  for  the  colonies  by  that  route 
through  the  States,  probably  to  return  and 
settle  there  after  finding  the  colonies  not  up  to 
expectation;  the  few  globe  trotters  bound  for 
everywhere  in  general,  the  reverend  gentle- 


The  Way  Thither.  55 

man  with  a  thirst  like  a  Sahara,  the  actress 
from  San  Francisco  and  Coney  Island,  skilled 
musician  and  more  skilled  flirt.  My,  if  those 
kodak  pictures  are  discovered  won't  there  be 
trouble  in  Spokane? 

One  thing,  of  course,  that  increased  the 
pleasure  of  the  trip  was  the  natural  cheerful- 
ness of  the  crowd,  the  American  crowd. 
Americans,  the  residents  of  the  United  States, 
are  now  the  gayest  and  happiest  people  in  the 
world,  much  more  so  than  even  the  French 
who  in  their  decadence  have  lost  that,  form- 
erly their  chief  characteristic.  Whatever  may 
be  the  cause  of  our  national  exhuberance,  it  is 
irrepressible.  It  may  be  the  Celtic  element  in 
our  blood,  it  may  be  our  marvelous  success,  it 
may  be  the  lack  of  a  superior  caste,  it  may  be 
the  motley  discordant  elements  in  our  popula- 
tion, but  the  fact  remains,  and  it  is  quickly 
noticed  by  foreigners  traveling  for  the  first 
time  in  the  country,  and  they  tell  me  they 
enjoy  it.  Years  ago  it  was  said  that  a  well- 
known  theatre  manager  in  Chicago  asked  a 
playwright  to  write  him  a  play.  His  only 
requisitions  were  that  it  should  have  a  nigger, 
a  Dutchman,  an  Irishman,  a  Chinaman  and  a 
jackass.    So  in  our  national  life  we  have  all  the 


66  The  Way  Thither. 

elements  of  a  comedy,  and  we  live  a  comedy. 
We  Americans  make  fun  of  everything,  sacred 
or  profane,  at  everybody  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  and  even  at  ourselves.  Mark  Twain 
embodied  the  national  spirit  when  he  advised 
a  friend  to  go  to  heaven  if  he  wanted  a  good 
climate  and  to  hell  if  he  wanted  good  society. 
The  Englishman  or  colonial  may  be  a  school 
teacher  from  some  obscure  village.  He  bears 
himself  with  all  the  dignity  and  solemnity  that 
is  supposed  to  appertain  to  the  president  of 
Harvard  College.  The  American  great  banker, 
lawyer  or  captain  of  industry,  when  off  duty 
tries  to  travel  incognito  and  he  becomes  a  boy 
again.  If  he  did  not  he  would  be  guyed  un- 
mercifully. How  often  after  an  outing  or  a 
voyage  one  has  discovered  the  genial  conver- 
sationalist and  boon  companion  to  be  a  man  of 
national  or  world-wide  reputation.  But  Avoe 
to  anyone  who,  misled  by  this  apparent  friend- 
liness, when  on  land  poaches  on  his  preserves. 
"Off  with  his  head!  So  much  for  Bucking- 
ham!" For  one  I  hope  it  will  be  many  a  cen- 
tury before  we  lose  that  happy,  noisy,  singing, 
joking  and  joshing  spirit.  It  is  said  to  be  the 
favorite  jest  on  the  London  Music  Hall  stage 
when  an  actor  says  he  has  just  been  around  to 


The  Way  Thither.  57 

some  hotel  listening  to  the  Americans  eat.  I 
hope  it  will  be  long  before  we  have  to  eat 
carrion  and  such  vile  cooking  with  the  silent 
air  of  a  bulldog  bolting  his  food. 

I  wish,  for  the  reader 's  sake,  I  could  write  a 
traveler's  description  of  Tahiti,  the  beautiful 
isle,  and  its  seaport,  Papetee — the  '*  water 
basket",  which  its  name  implies.  I  am  too 
old,  have  traveled  too  much.  The  circular 
sweep  of  the  bay  with  its  cocoa  palm  trees 
bending  over  the  water  at  each  extremity  of 
its  arms,  the  background  of  green  mountains 
covered  with  fogs  and  mist,  the  diving  boys, 
the  long  row  of  little  stores  facing  the  water, 
the  white  even  teeth  of  the  smiling  dark- 
skinned  natives !  For  forty  years  at  intervals 
they  have  been  familiar  to  me  one  place  or 
another,  only  the  natives  differing.  I  fear  that 
now  a  wholesome  meal,  a  good  bed  and  a  rea- 
sonable freedom  from  insects  concern  me  more 
than  the  turquoise  sky,  the  opalescent  sea  and 
the  snow-white  coral  beach  of  the  professional 
traveler.  When  away  from  them  I  long  for 
them  and  dream  of  them.  Present,  they  are  as 
familiar  and  conventional  to  me  as  the  corn- 
fields of  Illinois,  my  native  state.  Without  a 
new  mineral,  with  hardly  a  plant  unknown  to 


58  The  Way  Thither. 

me,  only  the  ethnology  of  the  islands  could 
appeal  to  me.  There  was  at  first  the  dream- 
like familiarity,  as  though  at  some  previous 
time  in  my  life  or  at  some  previous  existence 
I  had  been  there.  This  continued  some  days. 
I  remarked  to  friends:  **I  am  at  Tahiti,  but  I 
don't  know  I  am  at  Tahiti."  One  incident 
awakened  me.  Some  distance  out  of  town  on 
the  sea  drive  to  the  left  was  a  large  house  un- 
occupied, situated  in  a  grove  of  cocoanuts  and 
mangos.  Over  the  gateway  was  a  board  sign 
painted  whereon  was  one  word,  **Tabu",  and 
as  soon  as  seen  the  rest  of  the  world  instantl.y 
vanished.  I  was  on  Tahiti,  the  "Gem  of  the 
Pacific",  and  no  where  else.  The  rest  of  my 
stay  there  was  clear  and  well  defined.  But  for 
this  I  might  have  left  not  even  feeling  that  I 
had  been  there. 

These  obsessions,  if  I  may  call  them  so,  are 
becoming  too  frequent  in  my  advanced  years. 
Three  or  four  years  ago  just  as  I  emerged  from 
a  great  office  building  in  Chicago  I  lost  con- 
sciousness of  where  I  was.  I  knew  I  was  in  a 
large  cit}^,  bvit  what  one  I  could  not  tell.  I 
knew  I  wanted  to  be  in  my  office,  but  where  it 
lay  or  how  to  get  there  I  knew  not.  My  first 
impression  was  to  ask  a  policeman,  but  was 


The  Way  Thither.  B9 

ashamed  to  do  so,  so  I  went  into  an  entryway 
and  leaned  against  the  wall.  At  first  the 
crowds  passing  and  the  surrounding  buildings 
made  no  impression.  Gradually  my  mind 
cleared,  the  buildings  took  on  the  familiar 
appearance  of  acquaintances,  and  I  saw  I  was 
in  the  Chicago  where  I  had  lived  thirty-eight 
years,  and  that  I  had  wandered  two  blocks  at 
a  tangent  out  of  my  way.  Then  last  summer 
I  was  in  Denver  eating  my  dinner  in  a  restau- 
rant. At  once  I  forgot  what  town  I  was  in.  I 
paid  my  bill  and  went  outside  in  dim  wonder- 
ment of  what  city  was  holding  me.  I  stood  by 
the  door  worrying  my  mind  until  I  saw  a  sign 
of  the  Denver  something,  and  then  I  knew. 
My  friends  on  reading  this  will  at  once  say  I 
was  drunk.    Perhaps  I  was. 

I  cannot  drop  Tahiti,  however,  without  tell- 
ing of  two  of  the  funniest  things  I  ever  saw. 
A  little  inwards  from  the  sea  beach  was  a  half- 
grown  pig  industriously  rooting  in  the  ground. 
Upon  its  back  was  perched  very  much  at  home 
a  black  jackdaw.  At  intervals,  perhaps  when 
the  porker  would  turn  up  some  morsel  desired 
by  said  jackdaw,  he  would  jump  down,  swal- 
low it,  and  resume  his  position  on  the  pig's 
back  watching  for  another  bite.    Both  seemed 


60  The  Way  Thither. 

satisfied;  the  pig  offered  no  objections,  and  I 
for  once  in  my  life  wished  I  had  a  kodak.  The 
other  funny  sight  was  a  native  Tahitan  woman, 
big  and  fat,  lying  stretched  out  flat  on  her  back 
in  the  street  with  head  on  the  ground  playing 
an  accordian,  while  around  her  were  seated  a 
number  of  other  natives  listening.  Her  easy 
unconventional  attitude  was  both  charming 
and  irresistibly  ludicrous.  In  Honolulu  a 
policeman  would  have  told  her  to  be  ashamed 
of  herself  and  to  get  into  her  straight  jacket. 
I  now  know  why  travelers  say  that  Tahiti  is 
the  only  unspoiled  island  in  the  Pacific. 

As  to  the  bibliography  of  the  archipelago  I 
know  very  little,  nor  did  I  try  to  inform  my- 
self. Aside  from  Mrs.  Brassey's  ''Voyage  of 
the  Sunbeam"  and  Herman  Melville's 
"Omoo"  and  "Typee",  all  written  and  read  by 
me  many,  many,  years  ago,  I  know  only  Dr. 
Senn's  pleasant  little  book  on  the  islands, 
which  is  sufficient  for  the  ordinary  reader  of 
travels.  Clement  Wragg,  the  "Old  Proba- 
bility" of  New  Zealand,  wrote  about  it  and 
New  Caledonia,  the  other  French  island,  but 
the  work  is  the  veriest  trash.  I  wish  the  Chi- 
cago critics  who  so  unmercifully  hammered  a 
previous  literary  effort  of  mine  had  to  read  it. 


The  Way  Thither.  61 

Then  they  would  be  sorry  they  had  treated  me 
so  meanly.  If  I  had  the  power  I  would  inflict 
on  them  a  still  more  terrible  punishment.  I 
would  condemn  them  for  the  balance  of  their 
lives  to  read  nothing  but  Indiana  novels.  Not 
that  I  ever  read  an  Indiana  novel  in  all  my 
born  da  vs.  but  I  know  from  their  favorable  re- 
views  of  all  of  them  that  they  must  be  some- 
thing terrible.  But  perhaps  the  critics  afore- 
said are  Lidiana  productions  themselves.  If 
so  they  are  pardonable  because  they  could  not 
be  expected  to  know  what  a  book  is.  Ignorance 
and  ill-breeding,  they  say,  are  the  two  things 
we  cannot  charge  up  against  anybody.  It 
seems  in  literature  the  first  offense  is  the  most 
severely  punished,  and  with  every  succeeding 
crime  the  pimishment  is  lessened,  and  I 
thought  I  ought  to  be  leniently  treated  because 
I  had  never  tried  to  inflict  a  novel  on  the  pub- 
lic. When  a  very  young  man,  afflicted  with  a 
hunger  as  big  as  a  cold  storage,  I  made  my 
bread  and  a  little  butter  translating  French 
novels  for  Chicago  publishers.  I  did  it  for  the 
same  reason  a  burglar  breaks  into  a  house — I 
needed  the  money.  I  wanted  to  make  a  trans- 
lation of  Balzac's  works,  only  one  book  of 
which — Eugenia  Grandet — ^had  ever  appeared 


62  The  Way  Thither. 

in  English.  Chicago  publishers  all  told  me 
they  had  never  heard  of  Balzac,  but  if  I  would 
write  some  readable  novels  they  would  buy 
them.  My  reply  was  that  I  thought  I  was  will- 
ing to  do  for  money  anything  that  any  other 
man  would,  but  I  would  draw  the  line  at  novel 
writing.  Even  that  did  not  count  in  my  favor 
when  they  reviewed  my  "Aztecs  and  Mayas." 
With  Raratonga,  New  Zealand,  Australia, 
the  Fiji  Islands,  and  possibly  New  Caledonia, 
beckoning  me  on  I  felt  that  I  could  not  spare 
three  weeks  on  Tahiti,  so  made  a  week  answer 
and  left  for  Wellington,  although  this  would 
necessitate  doubling  the  700  miles  of  the  North 
Island,  once  by  water  and  once  by  rail.  I 
ought  to  have  waited  the  three  weeks  and  gone 
direct  to  Auckland.  There  was  a  joke  extant 
about  fifty  years  ago  about  country  town 
hotels:  "There  are  two  hotels  in  that  town; 
don't  go  to  the  one  you  intend  going  to.  But  it 
makes  no  difference  which  ever  one  you  go  to 
you  will  wish  you  had  gone  to  the  other. "  Per- 
haps if  I  had  taken  the  Auckland  boat  I  would 
advise  you  now  to  take  the  Wellington  boat.  A 
couple  of  days  before  day  scheduled  for  sailing 
there  limped  into  Papetee  a  weather-beaten 
old  hulk  with  a  decided  list  to  port,  a  little 


The  Way  Thither.  68 

poop  deck  at  the  stern  while  at  its  level  in 
front  was  a  forest  of  ventilators  and  cook's 
chimneys,  while  the  funnel  belched  out  all  its 
cinders  directly  in  the  faces  of  anyone  who 
tried  to  sit  upon  the  only  space  where  passen- 
gers could  take  air.  No  deck  cabin  was 
apparent.  It  was  the  Hauroto,  Union  Line 
steamer  for  Wellington,  and  we  were  told  it 
was  to  be  our  home  for  thirteen  days.  It  was 
decidedly  a  case  of  cheer  up;  the  worst  is  yet 
to  come.  W^e  had  been  told  that  there  were 
first-class  cabins  for  ten.  Eleven  first-class 
passengers  were  trans-shipped.  I  hoped  I 
might  as  an  old  man  be  one  of  the  favored.  The 
agent  on  the  dock  and  the  head  steward  ar- 
ranged matters  after  a  very  simple  rule.  The 
Britishers,  whether  first  or  second-class,  were 
given  the  first-class  cabins.  The  Americans, 
all  first-class  passengers,  were  given  the  sec- 
ond-class cabins.  To  my  lot  fell  a  second- 
class  cabin  in  the  middle  of  the  boat  with 
its  only  window  looking  straight  up  at  the  sky. 
It  had  as  much  ventilation  as  at  the  bottom  of 
a  cistern,  and  we  were  in  the  tropics  sailing 
directly  into  summer.  A  little  country  school 
teacher  from  New  Zealand  was  given  a  first- 
class  cabin  all  to  himself;  kissing  goes  by  favor. 


64  The  Way  Thither. 

I  was  in  for  a  crowning  experience.  I  have 
traveled  wide  and  much,  am  familiar  with 
American,  German,  English,  French,  Spanish, 
Norwegian  and  Mexican  steamships,  but  the 
Hauroto  is  easily  the  worst  I  have  ever  en- 
countered. Previously  one  of  the  Hall  line  in 
the  Mediterranean  held  that  pre-eminence.  I 
think  in  spending  thirteen  days  on  the  Hau- 
roto I  have  atoned  for  all  the  sins  I  ever  com- 
mitted, all  that  I  want  to  commit,  and  all  that 
I  ever  will  commit  during  the  balance  of  my 
life.  Minutes  were  like  hours,  hours  like  days, 
days  like  weeks.  When  I  had  been  ten  days 
on  the  boat  it  seemed  as  though  when  I  last 
walked  the  streets  of  Chicago  or  San  Fran- 
cisco were  in  some  past  existence,  and  then  it 
seemed  as  though  I  were  condemned  for  all 
eternity  to  wander  around  the  Pacific  in  that 
boat  like  another  Flying  Dutchman.  I  re- 
called that  Prof.  George  Dorsey  had  said  in 
his  writings  that  the  Australian  boats  were 
the  worst  in  the  world,  how  Mark  Twain,  after 
traveling  on  another  Australian  boat,  had  said 
the  company  ought  to  insure  its  boat  for 
several  times  its  value  and  then  set  it  on  fire. 
If  my  curses  were  ponderable  I  fear  the  boat 
would  have  gone  to  the  bottom  with  all  on 


The  Way  Thither.  66 

board.    One  night  below  was  sufficient;  after 
that  a  blanket  and  pillow  on  deck  were  pre- 
ferred, where  I  was  in  a  perpetual  snow  storm 
of  soot  and  cinders.    Every  woman  on  board 
was  sea  sick  from  the  moment  of  starting  to 
the  moment  of  landing,  and  some  of  them  for 
a  week  afterwards.    I  myself  after  being  at 
sea  twenty-seven  days  without  a  qualm  was 
overcome  by  nausea  for  the  first  time  in  many 
years,  to  my  intense  humiliation.    And  then 
the  smells — rank,  fetid,  sickening — pouring  up 
from  the  engines  and  cook's  galleys  right  for- 
ward under  our  eyes,  with  all  the  ventilators 
from  below  belching  their  foul  air  right  in  our 
faces,  penned  up  as  we  were  on  the  little  deck 
in  the  stern  of  the  vessel.    To  our  complaints 
a  colonial  remarked:  '*The  Americans  must 
have  their  sense  of  smell  abnormally  devel- 
oped.   Now  I  cannot  notice  any  disagreeable 
smells  at  all. ' '    I  later  learned  why.    And  the 
cooking!    Twenty  years  or  thereabouts  had 
deadened  my  recollection  of  English  cooking. 
It  all  came  back  vividly.   I  like  the  Italian  and 
Spanish  cooking;  I  even  like  the  Norwegian 
cabbage  soup;  the  tamales,  chili  con  came  and 
tortillas  of  the  Mexicans,  and  even  the  kous- 
kous  and  kibobs  of  the  Mohammedans,    but 


66  The  Way  Thither. 

honestly  I  balk  at  English  cooking,  and  coin- 
cide with  the  opinion  of  all  the  peoples  of  the 
earth  when  I  say  that  for  badness  it  bears  the 
palm.  When  I  made  this  statement  it  was 
violently  contested  by  all  the  English  on 
board.  I  at  once  got  a  copy  of  the  Weekly 
London  Times  that  was  lying  with  other  peri- 
odicals in  the  dining  room  and  read  to  them 
an  article  therefrom.  It  was  in  substance  to 
the  tenor  that  English  cooking  was  the  worst 
on  earth.  It  wondered  why,  as  the  English 
were  so  progressive  in  all  other  matters  (sic), 
they  either  could  not  or  would  not  improve 
in  their  cooking,  etc.,  etc.  They  could  not 
make  one  word  in  reply.  However  bad  it 
was,  it  was  the  least  objectionable  thing 
on  the  ship.  The  roasts  of  pork,  lamb  and 
mutton,  and  the  crackers,  or  biscuits  as 
they  call  them,  of  various  kinds  were  really 
excellent.  So  with  these  and  an  abundance  of 
wholesome  tropical  fruits  we  were  in  no  dan- 
ger of  going  hungry.  Perhaps  someone  will 
say  it  was  not  very  polite  or  diplomatic  to  find 
fault  with  a  nation's  cooking  on  one  of  its 
boats,  but  on  that  boat  I  was  neither  a  gentle- 
man nor  a  diplomat.  I  was  a  Mississippi  River 
roust-about,  or  a  stowaway  on  an  Alaska  boat. 


The  Way  Thither.  67 

or,  if  you  choose,  the  son  of  a  sea  cook.  One 
night  one  of  the  cooks  jumped  overboard.  It 
was  his  first  trip  on  that  boat.  He  died  rather 
than  spend  a  week  longer  on  that  boat  and  eat 
its  cooking.  We  Americans  all  decided  that 
he  was  a  brave,  sensible  man.  M}^,  how  we 
envied  him  his  sleep  in  the  tranquil  waters  of 
the  warm  Pacific.  We  hoped  that  if  a  shark 
found  him  it  was  while  he  was  yet  fresh,  as  we 
did  not  want  to  think  of  even  a  shark  eating 
rotten  meat.  The  Hauroto — gone  but  not  for- 
gotten. 

From  Auckland  on  towards  Australia,  four 
days,  the  Moana  boat  was  excellent,  excepting 
for  the  narrow  little  berths.  On  my  drawing 
comparisons  between  it  and  the  Hauroto  I  was 
told  a  poor  boat  was  purposely  kept  on  the 
Tahitan  route  to  prevent  passengers  from 
Europe  going  through  the  States  as  a  warmer 
and  more  preferable  route,  and  drive  them 
over  the  Canadian  Pacific  R.  R.,  which  I  de- 
nounced as  a  Yankee  trick,  to  their  great 
amusement.  The  boat  was  crowded  to  the  last 
berth.  The  morning  after  sailing  I  noticed  at 
the  breakfast  table  that  I  was  the  only  one  to 
eat  raw  fruit.  Then  I  knew  I  was  the  only 
American  on  board.    It  was  a  typical  English 


68  The  Way  Thither. 

and  colonial  crowd.  They  gulped  down  their 
food  in  silence,  and  swilled  down  great  quanti- 
ties of  ale  and  whiskey.  I  ventured  a  remark 
to  the  gentleman  at  my  left,  but  received  only 
a  monosyllabic  reply.  Nothing  more  was  said 
at  table  by  either  myself  or  anyone  within  my 
hearing  during  the  whole  four  days.  Some 
cricket  was  played  on  deck,  and  a  great  deal  of 
gambling  indulged  in  in  the  smoking  room,  but 
the  piano  was  not  once  opened.  There  was  a 
theatre  party  of  about  forty  returning  to  Aus- 
tralia from  New  Zealand,  but  except  for  two 
or  three  of  the  ladies  I  could  not  pick  out  a 
single  member  of  the  company.  They  all  con- 
ducted themselves  like  everybody  else,  and  I 
will  say  very  much  as  ladies  and  gentlemen; 
but  imagine  such  a  combination  on  an  Amer- 
ican boat  in  the  summer  time.  My  room  mate, 
an  Australian  by  birth,  a  manufacturer  from 
Adelaide,  a  thorough  gentleman  and  excellent 
companion,  had  reported  that  I  was  an  Amer- 
ican, so  the  last  morning,  as  we  were  approach- 
ing Sydney,  several  men  came  to  me,  tendered 
their  cards  and  engaged  in  lengthy  conversa- 
tion. I  had  often  noticed  that  in  Europe  or 
Africa  even  the  highest  English  nobility  were 
glad  to  converse  with  me  as  soon  as  they  ascer- 


The  Way  Thither.  69 

tained  I  was  an  American,  and  they  would 
laugh  heartily  at  my  American  anecdotes  or 
Yankee  slang,  w^hen  they  w^ould  not  even  speak 
to  one  of  their  own  compatriots.    Why? 

On  the  Mariposa  going  down  was  a  violinist 
from  San  Francisco,  paying  a  visit  to  Sydney, 
his  native  town.  He  had  lived  twelve  years  or 
OA^er  in  California,  and  was  as  pronounced  an 
American  in  his  ways  as  any  man  on  board. 
With  a  splendid  repertory,  it  was  an  excep- 
tional evening  that  he  did  not  favor  us  with 
selections,  sometimes  playing  to  near  mid- 
night. I  might  almost  say  he  was  the  life  of 
the  party.  The  minute  he  boarded  the  Hauroto 
he  seemed  to  change  his  nature  comj)letely, 
settling  back  in  the  morose  glumness  of  the 
English,  or  their  close  imitators,  the  colonials 
His  violin  was  not  taken  out  of  its  case.  In 
answer  to  our  repeated  requests  he  would  re- 
pl}^:  "I  am  afraid  if  I  play  the  violin  I  will  get 
sea  sick." 

I  noticed  that  at  the  band  concerts  given  in 
the  parks  at  Wellington,  Auckland  and  Syd- 
ney, the  audience  never  applauded. 

I  will  confess  the  Briton  on  his  native  heath 
is  not  an  amiable  object,  whatever  he  may  be 
abroad,  but  they  are  not  so  bad  as  to  justify 


70  The  Way  Thither. 

their  hating  themselves  to  the  exent  that  they 
do. 

I  suppose  it  is  a  matter  of  taste  as  to  whether 
one  prefers  the  ice-bound  reserve  of  the  Eng- 
lish or  the  ready  sociability  of  all  the  other 
civilized  peoples.  As  I  have  already  stated,  we 
Americans  in  this,  as  in  most  other  ways,  fol- 
low the  continental  rather  than  the  English 
manner.  I  have  often  noticed  that  after  a 
twelve  months '  residence  in  the  United  States 
the  Englishmen  themselves  are  as  frank  and 
full  of  jollity  as  a  native  born.  I  have  yet  to 
meet  an  Englishman  who  after  twenty  or  more 
years  residence  in  the  United  States,  having 
made  his  fortune  and  retired,  was  content  to 
pass  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  the  land  of 
his  nativity.  It  would  be  impossible  to  relate 
all  the  circumstances  in  reference  to  this  that 
have  come  under  my  observation.  I  will  relate 
one :  A  few  years  ago  on  the  train  going  to  the 
coast  was  an  Englishman  going  to  San  Fran- 
cisco where  he  had  formerly  lived  for  many 
years;  retiring  well-to-do  he  had  returned  to 
England,  leaving  Frisco  for  good.  In  England 
he  didn't  like  the  climate,  he  didn't  like  the 
cooking,  and  the  hide-bound  ways  aroused  his 
constant  indignation.    He  went  to  Paris  and 


The  Way  Thither.  71 

soon  tired  of  that.  Naples,  with  its  cheap 
opera  which  San  Francisco  lacked,  held  him 
captive  for  two  years.  Then  realizing,  as  he 
expressed  it  that  France  and  Italy  had  nothing 
for  a  live  man  but  dissipation,  he  determined 
to  return  to  the  Pacific  coast.  ' '  One  lived ' ',  he 
said,  ''more  in  one  year  of  San  Francisco  than 
in  four  of  any  European  country.  After  years 
of  that  live  electric  atmosphere  every  Euro- 
pean city  seems  stagnant."  I  met  our  violinist 
of  the  Mariposa  in  Sydney,  his  native  town. 
He  asked  me  how  I  liked  the  town.  On  my  re- 
plying that  it  was  a  very  beautiful  place  he 
smiled  rather  derisively  and  said:  "Y-e-s,  if 
you  look  at  it  in  that  way. ' ' 

The  direct  way  home  is  by  way  of  Brisbane, 
the  Fiji  Islands  and  Honolulu,  by  one  of  the 
crack  steamers  of  the  Union  line,  now  meta- 
morphosed into  a  Canadian  Pacific  affair.  As 
passengers  will  be  supposed  to  come  eastward 
over  that  road,  and  all  through  tickets  read 
that  way,  they  did  their  best.  The  Marama, 
upon  which  I  sailed,  was  the  second  best 
steamer  of  the  line.  Except  for  those  narrow 
berths  in  which  a  large  man  could  not  turn  on 
his  side,  in  appointment  and  personnel  nothing 
better  could  be  desired.    In  fact  thev  made 


72  The  Way  Thither. 

things  too  comfortable  for  the  passengers.  A 
little  sun,  sea  breeze  and  rain  will  kill  nobody, 
but  they  kept  the  promenade  deck  tightly  en- 
closed, top  and  sides,  with  canvas  so  that  even 
the  sea  could  not  be  seen  except  through  a 
two-inch  aperture.  I  had  a  chart  of  the  south- 
ern sky  which  I  had  bought  in  Australia,  and 
had  planned  to  study  the  summer  constella- 
tions of  the  south.  I  did  not  even  get  a  glimpse 
of  the  stars.  On  the  Siberia,  one  of  the  finest 
vessels  that  plow  the  Pacific,  there  is  an  upper 
deck  where  one  can  see  sun  and  sky  if  he  de- 
sires. The  Marama  lacked  that  and  used  alto- 
gether too  much  canvas  around  what  deck  it 
did  have.  To  a  man  living  in  the  country  as 
I  do,  the  impression  was  constraining.  I  had 
long  before  ceased  to  look  for  agreeable  cook- 
ing. Having  almost  lost  my  life  in  Australia 
from  eating  rotten  food,  I  was  necessarily 
cautions.  Still  it  seemed  an  aggravation  to  see 
on  the  bill  of  fare  such  things  as  golden  pheas- 
ant, wood  cock,  hare,  pigeon,  shrimp  and 
oysters,  and  yet  not  be  able  to  touch  one  of 
them.  It  seemed  almost  like  a  swindle  as  I  had 
paid  for  them.  I  often  ordered  them,  but  to 
sight,  taste  and  smell  they  were  disgusting. 
Usually  I  could  not  continue  my  meal  until 


The  Way  Thither.  73 

they  were  removed  from  in  front  of  me.  I 
might  attribute  this  to  my  natural  crankiness, 
which  I  confess  to  be  great,  were  it  not  that  the 
French,  Germans  and  Americans  on  board  ex- 
pressed their  opinions  on  the  matter  to  pre- 
cisely the  same  effect.  One,  a  German  business 
man  who  had  been  over  the  line  before,  told  me 
he  had  sent  a  five  dollar  piece  (a  pound)  down 
to  the  cook  with  orders  that  if  there  were  any 
meats  on  board  that  were  not  rotten  he  was  to 
get  them,  and  under  no  circumstances  to  send 
any  other  to  his  plate.  Said  he:  "When  I  am 
on  a  French  or  German  boat  I  can  eat  freely 
without  regard  to  consequences.  When  among 
the  English  I  must  watch  every  bite  I  put  in 
my  mouth  or  suffer  the  consequences."  The 
English  can  never  call  themselves  civilized 
until  they  rid  themselves  of  the  habit  of  eating 
carrion.  Anyhow  they  ought  to  eat  it  in  the 
seclusion  of  their  own  homes,  and  not  inflict 
it  on  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  Canadians  are 
half  Americanized.  During  ten  trips  into 
British  America  I  have  had  no  occasion  to  find 
fault  with  the  eating.  Those  boats  claim  to  be 
Canadian.  The  majority  of  the  passengers  are 
American,  at  least  they  were  on  the  Marama, 
as  they  invariably  are  on  the  Atlantic  liners. 


74  The  Way  Thither. 

They  ought  for  their  sakes  use  some  sanitary 
precautions  and  engage  a  cosmopolitan  cook. 
It  is  said  bears,  dogs  and  Indians  can  eat 
putrid  meat  without  evil  effect.  I  suppose  the 
English  can  also  because  they  early  become 
immune.  We  know  from  the  old  novelists, 
Smollett,  etc.,  down  to  our  own  experiences 
that  meat  was  by  them  not  considered  good 
until  "high"  and  that  the  fumier,  as  they  call 
it,  so  disgusting  to  an  American,  was  an  agree- 
able part  of  the  repast.  Much  has  been  said 
and  written  about  the  evil  effects  of  eating 
tropical  fruits,  but  in  many  winters  spent  in 
hot  countries  I  have  never  once  experienced 
any  evil  consequences  from  unrestrained  in- 
dulgence. Several  times  I  have  been,  there  as 
well  as  in  Australia,  brought  to  the  verge  of 
the  grave  by  rotten  meat  or  fish.  I  am  too  old 
now  ever  to  become  immune  to  that  trouble. 
Of  course  no  one  ever  expects  to  get  coffee  fit 
to  drink  among  the  English,  but  they  ought  to 
learn  how  to  cook  eggs  and  make  good  bread. 
I  thought  I  would  like  to  bring  home  a  piece  of 
the  bread  from  the  boat,  heavy,  sour  and 
soggy,  as  I  felt  no  one  would  really  believe  ex- 
cept upon  inspection  that  any  people  could  eat 
such  stuff,  and  that  is  what  one  invariably 


The  Way  Thither.  75 

got  everywhere  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand. 
As  to  eggs,  they  could  soft  boil  them.  To  fry 
or  poach  them,  the  only  other  ways  that  people 
ever  attempt  to  cook  them,  was  to  reduce  them 
to  the  state  of  sole  leather.  Nor  could  we  ex- 
pect them  to  make  good  ice  cream,  as  they 
think  eating  it  a  barbarous  habit.  They  are 
going  to  unheard-of  lengths  in  accommodation 
to  serve  it  at  all  on  the  boats.  It  is  not  served 
in  their  hotels.  At  one  town,  never  getting  it 
in  the  hotel,  I  went  to  a  little  fruit  store  where 
the  woman  gave  a  tablespoonful  of  very  poor 
ice  cream  for  12  cents.  I  remarked  that  in  the 
United  States  ice  cream  was  supposed  to  end 
every  dinner.  She  replied  with  a  sneer:  **Ice 
cream  at  dinner.  Fawncy."  There  were 
numberless  violations  of  all  the  rules  of  good 
taste  as  accepted  by  all  the  rest  of  the  world, 
one  of  the  chief  of  which  was  the  sacrilege  of 
boiling  a  turkey.  Other  than  by  boiling  I 
never  saw  turkey  served  in  all  Australia. 
Imagine  an  American  housewife  throwing  up 
her  hands  in  horror  at  the  idea.  A  turkey 
should  be  roasted.  '*A  turkey  boiled  is  a  tur- 
key spoiled."  Boiling  reduces  it  to  a  slippery, 
gelatinous  mass,  and  is  a  crime  worthy  of  the 
severest  punishment.    Celery,  supposed  by  the 


76  The  Way  Thither. 

rest  of  the  world  to  be  a  hors  d'oeuvre,  is  eaten 
by  the  colonists  at  the  end  of  a  meal  with  the 
dessert,  or  as  they  call  it  the  sweets.  I  was 
rather  glad  of  this,  however,  as  it  was  there  on 
the  table  to  be  eaten,  which  gave  us  Americans 
first  chance  at  the  best  portions.  Going  from 
winter  into  full  summer,  back  into  winter 
again,  the  boats  have  the  best  markets  in  all 
the  world  to  draw  upon;  and  they  do  draw 
upon  them.  In  variety  of  productions  and 
abundance  of  the  best  no  fault  can  be  found, 
still  the  result  is  distinctly  unfavorable.  De 
gustibus  non  est  disputandum  is  an  exploded 
theor}^  There  is  a  distinct  standard  of  taste, 
and  not  to  conform  to  it  is  a  sign  of  barbarism. 
The  rest  of  the  world  will  never  accommodate 
itself  to  rotten  sea  food  and  game. 

The  late  John  J.  Knickerbocker  of  Chicago, 
an  extensive  traveler,  once  said  to  the  writer 
on  a  French  boat  that  he  never  took  an  English 
boat  when  he  could  avoid  it  because  they  did 
everything  but  knock  a  man  down  and  take  his 
purse  out  of  his  pocket.  The  form  of  organized 
robbery  practiced  on  the  English  boats  is 
aggravating,  and  the  Marama  is  one  of  the 
worst  offenders  in  that  respect.  I  had  to  tip 
ten  persons  to  get  off  that  boat,  and  two  more 


The  Way  Thither.  77 

wanted  something  and  were  much  disap- 
pointed by  not  getting  it.  On  the  American 
boat  only  four.  But  considering  this  all  as 
legitimate  they  took  up  two  subscriptions  on 
the  Marama  for  shore  charities,  besides  the 
usual  English  custom  of  a  charitable  concert. 
And  then  was  practiced  a  scheme  for  extract- 
ing money  that  was  new  to  me,  although  it 
may  now  be  usual  on  their  transatlantic  liners, 
as  it  is  nearly  twenty  years  since  I  crossed 
that  water  on  English  boats.  A  committee  on 
sports  was  appointed  and  they  called  on  all 
the  male  passengers  for  five  dollars  each  as  a 
fund  for  prizes.  I  supposed  at  the  time  that 
the  five  dollars  so  raised  was  merely  a  form 
of  gambling  or  lottery,  and  that  the  money 
would  be  merely  redistributed.  Not  at  all. 
As  we  were  going  into  Honolulu  the  sports 
ceased  and  the  prizes  were  exhibited  in  the 
ladies'  salon.  They  consisted  of  a  few  teapots, 
hair  brushes  and  other  toilet  articles.  If  the 
whole  kit  had  been  given  to  me  I  would  not 
have  paid  excess  baggage  to  get  them  home. 
I  would  say  that  $35.00  in  Chicago  would  have 
purchased  the  lot.  An  American  lady  told  me 
she  won  a  prize.  It  was  a  Japanese  teapot  for 
which   they    had    paid   in    the   barber   shop 


78  The  Way  Thither. 

seventy-five  cents,  but  which  she  could  have 
purchased  in  any  store  for  twenty-five;  that 
she  did  not  know  what  she  would  do  with  it 
when  she  got  it  home,  etc.  After  leaving  Hono- 
lulu the  report  of  the  committee  was  posted 
up  in  the  gangway.  Of  the  $500  contributed, 
$90  were  spent  for  prizes,  $140  were  given  the 
servants  as  tips  (this  in  addition  to  the  in- 
evitable excessive  tips),  and  the  remainder 
was  appropriated  to  some  land  charity  whose 
name  I  did  not  bother  to  remember.  I  should 
say  that  this  was  a  rake-off  that  would  have 
satisfied  the  heart  of  even  a  Chicago  politician. 
I  suppose  I  ought  not  to  comment  on  this  pro- 
ceeding as  I  refused  to  ^participate  in  the 
games.  I  have  seen  rich  suckers  often  swin- 
dled by  professional  gamblers  on  the  Atlantic, 
and  Alaska  laborers  lose  in  one  night  the  re- 
sult of  a  whole  summer's  work;  but  it  has 
always  been  a  rule  rigidly  adhered  to  by  me 
not  to  risk  money  on  games  of  chance,  under 
whatever  guise  or  nature.  Then  when  ashore 
on  the  train  in  the  United  States  others  told 
me  they  did  not  approve  of  it  at  all,  but  lacked 
the  moral  courage  to  refuse.  The  English  have 
much  to  say  concerning  begging  in  Spain,  and 
their  usual  appellation  for  the  whole  race  of 


The  Way  Thither.  79 

Spaniards  is  ** Beggars".  So  they  cannot  con- 
sider it  unfair  for  me  to  point  out  wherein 
they  are  themselves  deficient  in  that  respect. 

Two  days  in  the  Fiji  Islands  are  not  enough; 
a  month  in  mid-summer  rather  too  much. 
They  deserve  a  separate  trip  in  their  winter, 
with  Samoa  to  share  the  time.  Then  dear  old 
Honolulu,  the  glorious  Stars  and  Stripes  and 
**Auld  Lang  Syne."  Then  Victoria  for  the 
third  time,  formerly  seeming  so  sleepy,  now  by 
contrast  so  quick  and  modern ;  then  marvelous 
Vancouver,  already  well  known  to  me,  des- 
tined probably  to  be  the  largest  city  in  Canada, 
pulsating  with  life  and  vigor,  where  every  eye 
seemed  full  of  hope  and  daring ;  no  stagnation, 
no  dry  rot  there.  The  only  trace  of  the  English 
buU-headedness  was  in  the  steamer  baggage 
arrangements.  As  usual,  having  been  given 
no  checks,  I  had  to  make  three  trips  and  hunt 
personally  a  whole  day  for  a  missing  trunk,  at 
my  age  no  light  undertaking  in  the  pouring 
rain,  and  then  pay  liberally  for  an  employee  to 
help  me  in  the  search.  If  it  had  been  carried 
away  on  the  through  train  by  someone  else,  as 
I  really  thought  it  had  been,  I  would  have  had 
no  recourse,  and  no  way  of  identifying  my 
trunk  three  thousand  miles  away.  Blank  the 
Romans,  and  blank  the  way  the  Romans  do. 


80  The  Australians. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Australians. 

The  first  impression  made  upon  an  American 
by  the  people  is  that  they  do  not  talk  English, 
that  is  United  States  English.  Irish  brogue  is 
familiar  and  easily  understood  by  me,  and  the 
Scotch  dialect  is  not  so  very  difficult.  I  could 
make  my  way  around  London  fairly  well  with- 
out an  interpreter,  but  to  my  astonishment 
found  on  landing  in  Sydney  that  ordinary  con- 
versation was  as  unintelligible  to  me  as  Choc- 
taw. I  could  sit  in  the  cabin  of  a  small  boat  or 
in  the  compartment  of  a  railway  car,  or  even 
between  two  men  in  a  store  who  talked  almost 
over  my  head,  without  knowing  anything  at  all 
of  what  they  said.  Only  here  and  there  catch- 
ing a  familiar  word,  and  this  too  while  their 
newspapers  were  written  in  clear,  correct,  in- 
comparable English  that  far  surpassed  any- 


The  Australians.  81 

thing  that  our  Chicago  papers  would  or  could 
use.  I  saw  that  Webster's  International  Die- 
tionary  was  everywhere  in  use  but  surely  they 
found  no  authority  therein  for  their  pronuncia- 
tion even  if  they  did  for  their  spelling.  Some 
rules  soon  formulated  themselves,  however,  in 
my  mind.  A  thing  in  a  shop  had  been 
"sowled",  a  man  was  very  *' bowled",  the  day 
was  very  "cowld".  The  letter  A  except  in  ap- 
pearance had  dropped  out  of  the  language,  and 
its  place  taken  by  our  long  I.  The  **mide" 
wished  to  know  whether  I  would  drink  "ile" 
or  tea.  The  newsboy  would  ask  me  to  buy  a 
"piper".  The  clerk  in  the  shop  told  me  they 
were  having  a  "sile"  of  caps;  the  jeweler  that 
the  amethysts  of  Australia  were  too  "pile"  to 
be  valuable;  the  shipping  clerk  that  the 
steamer  would  "sile"  on  the  10th,  etc.  Then 
our  broad  A  has  become  broad  0.  Glass  was 
"gloss',  mass  was  "moss",  pass  was  "poss", 
my  hat  was  "hot",  a  cat  was  "cot".  This, 
however  was  not  strange  to  me  as  none  of  the 
Europeans  use  our  broad  A.  Then  with  all  this 
sprinkle  the  English  themselves  who  dropped 
the  H  where  it  should  be  aspirated  and  put  on 
the  H  where  none  should  be  used,  and  you  can 
imagine  where  it  left  a  man  who  knew  no  other 


82  The  Australians. 

English  than  the  universal  slang  of  the  Chi- 
cago newspapers.  To  use  the  best  Halsted 
Street  of  which  I  am  capable,  it  was  fierce.  My 
thought  was:  "This  is  the  last  in  my  mind  of 
the  theory  that  English  will  become  the  world- 
wide language."  Long  before  that  might  oc- 
cur Australians  and  Americans  will  become 
absolutely  unintelligible  to  each  other,  as 
much  so  as  Germans  and  English.  And  yet  I 
met  professors,  scientific  men  and  newspaper 
writers  who  talked  in  lucid  English  with  the 
pronunciation  such  as  we  were  taught  in  col- 
lege, and  which  I  remember  to  have  been  used 
by  English  much-travelled  noblemen  met  on 
the  continent  or  in  Africa. 

The  second  thought  was:  I  didn't  know 
there  was  such  a  backward,  unprogressive 
people  in  the  world.  I  had  lived  in  Madrid 
during  the  session  of  Parliament,  boarding  at 
the  hotel  most  frequented  b}^  their  statesmen, 
I  found  them  as  advanced  in  ideas  as  any  men 
in  the  world,  and  as  fully  aware  of  the  short- 
comings of  Spain.  They  saw  as  clearly  as  any 
American  could  have  done  what  was  needed  to 
regenerate  their  country  and  its  people. 
Wrongly  or  rightly,  they  placed  the  failure  to 
advance  upon  the  church.    As  they  expressed 


The  Australians.  88 

it;  ''The  army  supports  the  imperium,  the 
imperium  supports  the  church,  and  the  church 
puts  a  damper  on  all  our  efforts. "  I  had  found 
in  the  larger  Central  and  South  American 
cities  as  eager  a  thirst  for  science  and  advance- 
ment as  in  the  United  States,  and  as  persistent 
a  desire  to  place  themselves  abreast  of  the 
United  States,  Germany  and  France  in  all  the 
results  of  modern  investigations,  as  one  could 
expect,  considering  their  poverty.  It  really 
seemed  as  though  where  they  were  lacking  it 
was  not  through  their  own  fault  but  owing  to 
their  poverty,  the  ignorance  of  the  great  ma- 
jority of  their  people,  and  the  Indian  and 
Negro  blood  which  predominates  in  those 
countries.  In  Australia  I  could  see  neither 
advancement  nor  even  the  desire  for  advance- 
ment. With  them  the  acme  of  perfection  was 
reached  the  day  Nelson  won  the  battle  of 
Trafalgar.  They  do  not  know  or  believe  there 
is  such  a  word  as  progress.  They  as  firmly 
believe  in  the  ultimate  perfection  of  every- 
thing English  as  it  existed  a  hundred  years 
ago  as  they  believe  in  their  own  existence.  In 
every  country  I  had  hitherto  visited  I  found 
an  enlightened  class  that  saw  the  light  and 
strove  to  reach  it.    In  Australia  there  is  no 


84  The  Australians. 

enlightened  class.  If  Nelson  or  Wellington 
did  not  use  any  given  object  in  his  daily  life  no 
one  need  vise  it  during  the  rest  of  the  globe's 
existence;  to  do  so  would  be  treason  to  their 
memory.  It  is  given  to  very  few  of  the  human 
race  to  command  great  fleets  in  a  naval  battle. 
Every  human  being  eats,  sleeps,  strives  for  en- 
joyment, suffers  pain  and  sickness,  plays  his 
little  role  as  best  he  may  according  to  his  lights. 
The  little  things  that  affect  his  comfort  or 
health  are  of  greater  importance  to  him  than 
military  glory  in  another.  To  him  he  is  the 
universe.  To  the  small  Roman  shop  keeper  or 
farmer  I  suppose  it  made  little  difference 
whether  Augustus  or  Marcus  Antonius  headed 
the  government  so  long  as  he  was  undisturbed 
in  his  little  home  with  his  wife  and  children. 
So  little  difference  did  I  consider  that  it  made 
to  me  whether  Parker  or  Roosevelt  was  elected 
president  that  I  did  not  take  the  trouble  to 
vote  for  either  of  them.  It  makes  very  much 
difference  to  me  whether  my  sleep  is  disturbed 
by  flies  and  mosquitos  and  whether  I  am 
poisoned  by  my  food  or  not. 

In  considering  what  they  term  small  mat- 
ters, which  I  do  not  so  term,  I  concede  that 
hitherto  the  English  sailors  have  been  the  best 


The  Australians.  85 

in  the  world,  that  the  possession  of  the  strong- 
est fleet  enables  a  nation  to  conrol  any  number 
of  savage  peoples,  that  such  control  is  for  their 
own  good,  and  that  the  English  have  done  a 
great  work  in  the  world;  also  that  even  the 
Australians  are  far  ahead  of  naked  cannibals. 
The  question  is  whether  they  are  seeing  the 
end  of  their  usefulness  through  their  own  stu- 
pidity. 

Writers  in  their  periodical  press  and  their 
speakers  are  constantly  harping  on  their  in- 
dependence, that  Australia  is  as  free  as  Eng- 
land is  free,  that  only  liens  of  amity  and  blood 
unite  them,  that  when  they  desire,  finding  it 
burdensome,  they  will  cast  off  even  that  tie, 
etc.  They  impressed  me  as  being  the  worst 
slaves  on  earth.  I  have  spent  several  winters 
under  the  greatest  autocrat  on  earth,  Diaz, 
President  of  Mexico,  and  yet  the  Mexican 
people  impressed  me  as  a  free  people  working 
out  their  way  through  eclecticism  without 
pressure  from  any  direction.  Having  learned 
the  Spanish  pronunciation  in  Madrid  I  have 
occasionally  criticised  some  Mexican  for  his 
pronunciation.  He  invariably  replied  that 
they  did  not  speak  Spanish,  but  Mexican.  I 
have  in  my  library  a  copy  of  Gomara's  history, 


86  The  Australians. 

*' translated  from  the  Spanish  into  Mexican  by 

."     The  Australians  are  slaves 

to  English  conventionality  and  to  their  fear  of 
the  caste  of  nobility.  They  are  constantly  as- 
serting their  freedom  of  thought  and  action. 
They  do  protest  too  much.  Privately  with  an 
American  they  express  their  dislike  for  the 
nobility,  but  publicly  their  fear  of  their  disap- 
proval sways  every  action  or  impulse.  They 
carry  this  to  an  absurd  extent.  Even  if  they 
do  not  know  of  one  of  that  caste  being  present 
they  fear  there  might  be  and  govern  their 
actions  accordingly.  Only  in  a  lesser  degree 
do  they  worship  the  raw  Englishman.  The 
cockney  struts  around  with  a  lordly  overbear- 
ing air  that  would  be  decidedly  irritating  to  a 
Yankee.  His  opinion  is  law  there,  and  whereas 
here  he  would  soon  be  filed  into  the  semblance 
of  a  cosmopolitan,  there  he  grows  more  and 
more  cockney  to  his  end.  For  instance,  there 
are  no  rocking  chairs  in  Australia.  Until  the 
nobility  in  England  make  them  fashionable 
they  never  will  have  them.  As  one  who  often 
visits  the  English  colonies,  I  really  wish  the 
king  would  buy  a  few  and  put  them  in  St. 
James  Palace,  Windsor  Castle,  Balmoral  and 
Sandringham.    Then  the  nobility  would  use 


The  Australians.  87 

them,  then  the  officers  of  the  navy  and  army 
would  use  them,  then  the  clergy  and  learned 
professions,  then  the  tradesmen,  then  the 
workers,  and  then  the  Australian  hotels,  and 
I  might  have  an  easy  chair  to  sit  in  when  I  am 
reading  in  my  hotel  bedroom  in  far  off  Aus- 
tralia. When  one  thinks  how  popular  the 
great  bent-wood  rockers  are  in  Austria,  Ger- 
many, France,  Italy,  Spain,  and  through  the 
whole  length  and  breadth  of  Latin  America 
and  the  isles  thereof,  and  the  number  of  Amer- 
icans who,  for  one  purpose  or  another,  stop  at 
Australian  hotels,  this  fact  seems  only  an  indi- 
cation of  bull-headed  stubbornness.  As  it  is, 
the  greatest  hotel  in  Australia  considers  that 
the  innovation  of  rocking  chairs  would  plunge 
the  whole  British  fabric  into  chaos. 

"But  this",  says  my  English  friend,  "is  a 
very  small  matter  to  fulminate  against." 
When  that  hatred  of  innovation  is  carried  into 
every  detail  of  hotel  and  restaurant  life  it  be- 
comes an  intolerable  vexation.  Every  hotel 
bedroom  in  Australia  is  furnished  precisely  as 
every  other  hotel  bedroom,  whether  you  are 
staying  in  a  place  for  which  you  pay  $1.50  for 
your  room  and  three  meals  or  whether  you  are 
paying  $2.00  for  a  room  only  in  one  of  their 


88  The  Australians. 

greatest  caravansaries.  Instead  of  trying,  as 
in  other  large  cities,  to  avail  themselves  of 
every  modern  idea  in  comfort  or  sanitation 
they,  even  their  best  hotels,  try  to  slavishly 
follow  the  oldest  English  inns.  The  furniture 
all  of  a  piece  with  the  smallest  country  tavern, 
the  flat  table  as  a  washstand  with  its  bowl  and 
pitcher,  the  wardrobe  and  dresser  and  infini- 
tesimal looking  glass  placed  so  low  that  a  man 
cannot  look  into  it  unless  he  sits  down,  the  two 
kitchen  chairs,  the  little  iron  bed  with  its 
woven-wire  hammock  letting  a  stout  man 
down  against  the  slats,  its  slippery  hard  mat- 
tress stuffed  with  a  tough  wiry  fiber  known  as 
kaipok  which  by  morning  is  half  off  the  bed, 
its  pillows,  hard  as  a  chunk  of  lead,  stuffed 
with  the  same  material,  the  room  filled  with 
flies  and  mosquitoes,  and  the  absence  of  heat 
even  in  cold  weather,  and  we  have  partially 
the  highest  they  try  to  attain  in  an  Australian 
first-class  hotel.  I  say  partially  because  in  no 
respect  are  their  hotels  within  sixty  or  more 
years  in  time  with  what  the  rest  of  the  world 
considers  necessary.  The  hotel  I  lived  in  in 
Sydney  used,  it  is  true,  electric  light,  one  to  a 
room,  so  dim  and  placed  in  so  inconvenient  a 
position  that  I  was  compelled  to  buy  candles 


The  Australians.  89 

in  order  to  read  in  my  room,  which  candles 
were  all  the  more  necessary  as  the  light  was 
turned  off  all  over  the  hotel  at  midnight,  at 
which  hour  the  lift  also  stopped  running  not 
to  start  again  until  8  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
As  I  want  my  morning  paper  not  later  than  6 
a.  m.,  this  necessitated  my  climbing  down  and 
up  five  pairs  of  stairs.  The  bell  boys?  There 
were  none;  only  "mides"  who  never  took  less 
than  fifteen  minutes  to  answer  a  call,  usually 
nearer  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  Nor  were 
the  restaurants,  whether  in  hotel  or  in  the  city, 
more  convenient.  Nothing  before  8  a.  m.  if 
you  were  starving.  While  you  can  get  light  re- 
freshments, as  they  call  tea  and  cake  at  any 
time,  you  need  not  ask  for  a  bit  of  meat  before 
noon  sharp.  If  it  is  only  fifteen  minutes  to 
that  time  you  may  sit  and  wait  for  the  magic 
hour.  Short  orders  and  meals  at  all  hours  do 
not  go,  nor  can  they  even  conceive  the  possi- 
bility of  such  a  thing.  After  7  p.  m.,  if  you 
have  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  delayed  on 
your  outing,  you  will  find  the  hotel  dining 
room  and  all  the  restaurants  closed.  You  may 
find  some  place  where  you  fill  up  on  tea  and 
scones  or  go  hungry.  After  the  theater  if  you 
hunt   vigorously  you  may   find   sonie   place 


90  The  Australians. 

where  you  can  get  some  ice  cream  and  cake, 
but  unless  you  know  of  just  the  place  you  will 
visit  six  or  seven  well-known  places  before 
you  find  one  open.  Night,  which  in  other 
quarters  of  the  world  is  a  period  of  joy  and 
gaiety,  in  Sydney  is  like  a  Sunday  evening  in  a 
New  England  village.  By  9  o  'clock  the  people 
are  all  in  bed  and  asleep. 
"  The  worst  plagues  in  the  hotels  and  restau- 
rants are  the  flies  and  mosquitos.  Fleas  are 
no  worse  than  in  California,  but  every  traveler 
can  use  his  own  precautions.  Before  the 
swarms  of  flies  and  mosquitos  he  is  helpless. 
So  far  as  I  could  see  no  precaution  is  taken 
either  to  diminish  their  number  or  to  guard 
against  their  ravages.  Some  of  the  beds  have 
nets  to  let  down  at  night  to  keep  away  mos- 
quitos, which  is  a  very  antiquated  manner, 
smothering  in  hot  weather,  preventing  read- 
ing on  account  of  danger  from  fire,  and  totally 
inadequate,  as  the  hard  mat  they  call  a  mat- 
tress always  slides  to  one  side  exposing  from 
one-fourth  to  one-third  of  the  bed's  surface  to 
the  little  pests  from  beneath.  As  against  flies 
they  have  neither  fly  paper,  poison  nor  screens. 
As  we  learn  from  Herodotus  that  the  Egyp- 
tians in  his  time  used  netting  as  screens,  I  am 


The  Australians.  91 

constrained  to  say  that  the  Australians  are 
three  thousand  years  behind  the  times.  Be- 
coming acquainted  with  a  gentleman  and  his 
wife  living  at  Brisbane,  after  thirteen  years' 
residence  in  the  United  States,  I  asked  him 
why  they  in  particular  did  not  use  them.  He 
replied  that  the  wire  cloth  was  not  to  be 
bought  in  Australia.  So  far  as  I  could  see, 
their  only  method  of  exterminating  flies  was 
by  eating  them.  I  am  sure  I  found  them  in 
my  chocolate,  in  my  coffee,  in  my  milk,  in  my 
sugar,  in  my  soup,  in  the  sauces  by  my  meats, 
and  in  my  sweets,  which  they  so  term  what  we 
call  desserts.  The  sugar  bowls  on  the  tables, 
always  without  covers,  were  usually  black 
with  flies,  so  I  had  to  mine  towards  the  bottom 
in  order  to  get  a  spoonful  uncontaminated. 
They  swarm  free  and  unconstrained  in  the 
markets,  the  groceries,  the  bakeries,  fruit 
stores,  and  in  fact  wherever  food  products  are 
offered  for  sale.  They  are  as  oblivious  of  them 
as  an  Indian  is  of  dirt.  The  answer  is  that  the 
royal  family  and  nobility  in  England  do  not 
use  screens.  I  really  wish  the  king  would  buy 
some  so  that  the  nobility  and  all  down  the  line 
successively  could  use  them,  and  I  taking  my 
af ter-diimer  nap  in  far  oft'  Australia  would  not 


92  The  Australians. 

have  my  forehead,  which  extends  to  the  back 
of  my  neck,  used  as  a  skatmg  rink.  (This  idea 
is  for  the  benefit  of  colonials,  as  it  is  old  and 
worn  out  in  the  United  States).  But  there  is 
a  more  serious  aspect  to  this  matter,  as  we  will 
show  a  little  later  on. 

Except  in  freezing  carcasses  for  export  to 
England,  there  is  no  refrigeration  in  Australia. 
There  are  no  ice  chests  in  meat  markets,  gro- 
ceries, restaurants  or  private  families.  In 
front  of  every  meat  market  is  an  iron  grill, 
closed  at  night  and  on  Sundays,  behind  which 
hang  the  meats  with  no  other  protection  from 
the  flies,  dust  from  the  street,  and  deteriora- 
tion from  heat  in  a  climate  where  the  rubber 
tree  and  palm  live  out  of  doors  all  the  year. 
While  I  was  there  it  was  seriously  discussed 
whether  or  not  an  ordinance  should  be  passed 
compelling  the  butchers  and  meat  markets  to 
install  ice  chests.  It  was  voted  down  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  subject  them  to  expense. 
On  a  Sunday  I  have  often  stopped  to  watch 
through  the  grills  the  thousands  of  flies  at 
work  on  the  meats  which  perforce  might  be 
my  fate  to  eat  on  the  morrow.  On  buying  but- 
ter in  a  grocery  it  is  not  given  to  you  in  pound 
packages  wrapped  neatly  up  in  parafine  paper 


The  Australians.  98 

right  from  the  ice  as  here.  It  is  ladled  out  of 
an  open  box  not  unlike  our  old  cracker  boxes, 
where  it  stands  in  full  view  exposed  to  all  the 
flies  and  flying  filthy  dust  of  a  great  city.  I 
am  very,  I  might  say  inordinately,  fond  of  sea 
food,  and  at  first  the  lobsters,  shrimps,  oysters 
and  fish  exposed  to  view  in  the  lunch  houses 
looked  very  enticing.  Beware;  you  may  find 
them  fresh  once,  but  the  probability  is  that 
three  times  out  of  four  they  are  rotten,  as  they 
stand  thus  exposed  on  the  plates  day  and 
night  until  they  are  eaten.  If  you  were  to  ask 
the  proprietor  why  he  did  not  keep  them  in  an 
ice  chest  he  would  not  know  what  you  meant, 
as  perhaps  he  had  never  seen  an  ice  chest.  As 
a  result  intestinal  diseases  are  very  common. 
One  hears  about  them  on  all  sides.  The  hotels 
are  full  of  them.  They  take  them  as  a  matter 
of  course,  as  we  do  the  catarrh  in  Chicago.  I 
found  that  I  could  eat  with  safety  only  beef, 
pork  and  mutton.  After  a  sickness  that  almost 
cost  my  life  I  had  to  cut  sea  food  out  of  my 
diet  altogether.  At  no  time  during  my  whole 
life  have  I  been  so  near  my  death  from  disease 
as  while  there.  Disturbed  by  the  commotion 
causd  by  me  when  in  agony,  a  dear  old  lady, 
who  with  her  husband  occupied  the  adjoining 


94  The  Australians. 

room,  with  friendly  offerings  of  brandy,  etc., 
said  to  my  nurse:  "Now  I  know  he  has  been 
eating  fish.  You  must  tell  him  that  he  cannot 
eat  fish  in  Australia.  They  are  very  unhealthy 
in  this  country."  I  have  spent  several  years 
on  the  seaboard  in  warm  countries,  and  made 
many  trips  thither,  one  of  which  I  have  just 
concluded  (Sept.-Oct.,  1910),  during  which  I 
lived  upon  fish,  oysters,  crabs  and  clams  to 
absolute  exclusion  of  meats  without  evil  re- 
sults. So  I  must  conclude  it  is  not  the  fault  of 
the  fish  but  the  people  that  I  and  so  many 
others  Avere  made  ill  in  that  country. 

I  might  go  on  in  this  matter  indefinitely. 
That  backwardness  extends  through  all  the 
ramifications  of  life.  One  asks  himself  seri- 
ously the  question:  '^Have  we  the  right  to 
place  in  the  front  rank  of  civilized  people  such 
violators  of  all  the  rules  of  right  living?"  Such 
methods  and  ways  may  have  been  good  enough 
when  George  III  was  king.  They  are  as  anti- 
quated now  as  a  passenger  sailing  packet.  It 
has  been  eighteen  years  now  since  I  lived  in 
England.  I  am  not  able  at  present  to  draw 
parallels  between  the  English  and  the  coloni- 
als, but  my  winter's  trip  left  on  my  mind  the 
conviction  that  the  English  race  is  becoming 


The  Australians.  95 

ossified,  that  like  the  French  before  Sedan 
they  think  they  have  arrived  at  ultimate  per- 
fection, that  nothing  originating  outside  of 
England  is  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  If 
so  they  are  in  for  a  rude  awakening.  My  con- 
viction, rightly  or  wrongly,  is  that  if  ever  the 
shock  comes  between  Germany  and  England 
the  immense  colonial  empire  of  the  latter  will 
tumble  to  the  ground  like  a  house  of  cards.  I 
will  not  say  that  it  would  be  for  the  world's 
betterment  to  have  that  cataclysm.  I  am  only 
stating  a  mental  conviction. 

Although  I  have  been  ten  times  in  Canada, 
visited  Africa  and  Gibraltar  twice,  been  in  the 
black  islands  and  British  Honduras,  all  this 
struck  me  with  overwhelming  surprise.  It  is 
one  thing  to  compare  a  few  sparse  highly 
cultivated  English  with  negros,  and  to  com- 
pare a  great  nation  with  the  United  States. 
And  Canada  is  much  farther  ahead  of  Aus- 
tralia than  is  the  United  States  ahead  of 
Canada.  The  mere  fact  that  the  Australians 
think  there  is  no  country  can  teach  them  any- 
thing is  itself  a  proof  of  decadency.  In  the 
swift  race  of  life  to  stand  still  is  to  retrograde. 
I  did  not  go  to  Australia  on  a  voyage  of  politi- 
cal discovery,  but  I  soon  found  myself  think- 


96  The  Australians. 

ing  night  and  day  over  the  matter  and  goading 
whatever  intellectual  vigor  I  may  have  in  a 
search  for  the  cause.  I  soon  found  that  it  was 
with  them  and  all  who  have  ever  visited  the 
country,  a  threadbare  subject.  Froude,  the 
greatest  English  historian,  does  not  take  up 
that  phase  in  his  book  ''Oceania",  and  yet 
every  speaker  is  daily  asserting  vehemently 
that  the  English  are  not  decadent.  Every  day 
some  writer  in  the  press  is  declaring  that  there 
is  no  halting,  that  the  English  blood  retains  all 
its  pristine  vigor  and  that  they  are  leading  in 
the  advancement  of  civilization,  all  impres- 
sions to  the  contrary  notwithstanding;  while 
the  very  adjoining  article  in  the  same  paper  is 
a  melancholy  confession  of  Aveakness  and  old 
fogyism.  All  the  rest  of  the  world,  even  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese,  think  the  English  are 
decadent.  That  is  one  thing  upon  which  all 
the  Canadians,  Germans,  French  and  Yankees 
on  board  the  Marama  were  united  in  opinion. 
I  believe  they  feel  convinced  of  the  fact  them- 
selves, or  they  would  not  among  themselves  so 
constantly  be  asserting  the  contrary.  The 
woman  who  is  constantly  asserting  her  virtue 
has  been,  through  all  the  ages,  an  object  of 
suspicion. 


The  Australians.  97 

Going  down  on  the  American  boat  was  an 
Austrian  Pole  about  thirty  years  of  age  I 
should  judge.  He  got  off  at  Tahiti  and  it 
seems  stayed  three  weeks  at  the  well-known 
social  cranks'  colony  up  the  mountain,  took 
the  boat  from  there  to  Auckland,  and  not  lik- 
ing New  Zealand,  went  from  there  to  Sydney 
where  I  met  him.  He  had  lived  in  Germany, 
France,  London  and  the  United  States,  and 
was  a  thoroughly  intelligent  cosmopolitan.  In 
a  long  conversation  with  me,  without  my  once 
referring  to  the  matter,  he  stated  that  Aus- 
tralia held  nothing  for  a  live  man,  and  that  he 
was  going  to  the  Argentine  Republic;  this  ten 
thousand  miles  away  as  though  it  were  across 
Lake  Michigan.  He  attributed  Australia's 
depressed  condition,  upon  which  he  dwelt  at 
length  giving  me  many  new  points  that  I  had 
not  learned,  to  the  flatheadedness  of  the  Eng- 
lish race  who  as  he  claimed  were  incapable  of 
learning  anything.  La  his  own  language  he 
said:  '*The  whole  world  is  copying  after  the 
United  States  but  the  English;  that  is  why 
they  are  getting  left.  No  new  idea  can  be  in- 
troduced anywhere  in  the  world  that  the 
United  States  does  not  at  once  adopt  and  im- 
prove upon.     The  English  will  not  concede 


§8  The  Australians. 

that  the  United  States,  nor  any  other  people 
in  the  world,  can  teach  them  anything.  In 
Austria  if  a  man  is  doing  anything  in  a  new 
manner  on  being  asked  why  he  replies  that 
that  is  the  way  it  is  accomplished  in  the 
United  States,  which  brings  forth  the  re  joiner. 
Then  it  is  all  right." 

To  me  it  is  still  an  open  question  whether 
the  country  owes  her  misfortunes  mostly  to 
English  buUheadedness  or  to  her  form  of 
government. 

For  all  this  the  Australians  are  likable  fel- 
lows with  many  noble  traits.  They  are  not 
puritans.  While  they  observe  the  Sunday 
more  strictly  than  they  think  of  doing  in  the 
United  States,  most  things  that  are  considered 
mortal  sins  here  they  do  not  bother  about.  In 
this  they  seem  to  follow  the  precept  of  Marcus 
Aurelius  who  says:  "Trouble  not  yourself  over 
the  wrongdoing  of  your  neighbor.  Perhaps  he 
is  not  doing  wrong."  Their  newspapers  are 
not  filled  with  the  so-called  "war  on  vice" 
while  they  keep  mum  during  the  time  that 
thousands  of  millions  of  dollars  are  stolen  by 
office  holders  from  the  public.  Their  local 
administration  does  not  make  a  great  noise  in 
persecuting    helpless    fallen    women,    while 


The  Australians.  99 

stealing  ten  millions  a  year  as  in  Chicago.  Pro- 
hibition receives  little  encouragement.  As  in 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  even  the  most 
of  the  clergy  indulge  in  moderation,  which  is 
the  sensible  philosophical  point  of  view.  I  in- 
sert here  a  clipping  to  illustrate  how  the 
question  is  entertained  in  that  country.  Yet 
they  do  not  have  a  law  punishing  anyone  who 
does  not  drink  liquor. 

LOCAL  OPTION  IN  ADELAIDE. 


A  Tempestuous  Meeting. 

Adelaide,  Wednesday — At  the  local  option  meeting 
in  the  Central  Market  to-night  between  4000  and 
5000  people  were  present.  The  speakers  were  Revs. 
C.  I.  Schafer,  John  Patterson,  and  Neild. 

It  was  evident  from  the  beginning  that  the  speakers 
would  get  a  hostile  reception,  notwithstanding  the 
presence  of  a  large  number  of  police. 

As  soon  as  the  proceedings  commenced,  a  fusilade 
of  rotten  eggs  and  ripe  tomatoes  assailed  the  speakers, 
whose  clothes  were  liberally  bespattered.  It  was  im- 
possible to  hear  their  addresses  owing  to  the  crowd 
keeping  up  a  constant  chorus  of  interjections. 

Mr.  Schafer  announced  his  intention  of  speaking  if 
he  stayed  till  midnight.  The  crowd  kept  pushing  into 
the  temporary  platform,  and  several  times  the  speakers 
had  to  hold  on  to  a  convenient  pipe  for  support.  The 
police  moving  amongst  the  crowd  were  tossed  about 
like  ninepins. 

Despite  the  din,  the  gentlemen  continued  to  address 
the  meeting  to  the  accompaniment  of  choruses  and 


100  The  Australians. 

throwing  of  eggs.  Eventually  the  announcement  that 
the  lights  would  be  turned  off  brought  the  meeting  to 
a  termination  amid  laughter.  Immediately  the  speak- 
ers moved  off,  they  were  surrounded  by  a  mob,  who 
hooted  continuously  as  they  were  being  escorted  by 
six  policemen  to  the  Pirie-street  Methodist  Church. 

Horse  racing,  which  in  the  States  is  the  sum 
of  all  the  villainies,  is  there  a  popular  sport 
and  is,  I  was  told,  often  attended  by  the 
Episcopal  and  Catholic  clergymen.  The  writer 
has  not  seen  a  horse  race  since  the  year  1872. 
but  he  can  see  no  more  wrong  in  it  than  in 
school  boys  racing.  If  anyone  loses  more  than 
he  can  afford  by  betting  upon  them  that  is  his 
lookout,  not  the  public's.  Boxing,  one  of  the 
finest  of  all  exercises  to  breed  up  manly  men, 
is  everywhere  as  popular  and  as  little  frowned 
upon  as  any  other  form  of  exercise.  As  a  re- 
sult the  Australian  uses  his  fist  where  the 
American  uses  his  revolver,  or  the  Italian  his 
knife.  On  the  boat  going  from  Auckland  to 
Sydney  one  evening  two  of  the  sailors  on  the 
main  deck  stripped  for  a  four-round  setto 
under  all  the  rules  There  was  a  referee  and 
seconds.  The  rounds  were  timed,  and  many  of 
us  passengers  above,  ladies  as  well  as  gentle- 
men, crowded  to  the  rail  to  watch  it.  It  was 
a  pretty  exhibition.    It  made  my  blood  move 


The  Australians.  101 

quicker,  and  my  only  feeling  was  admiration 
for  the  sturdy  handsome  fellows  who  could 
stand  up  and  take  blows  without  wincing.  I 
thought  of  the  Greek  philosopher  who  to  im- 
press upon  his  son  the  discipline  of  boxing 
called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  when  a 
hard  blow  was  struck  the  people  witnessing  it 
cried  out,  but  not  the  athlete  receiving  the 
blow.  A  nation  of  boxers  may  be  extermi- 
nated, but  they  can  never  be  reduced  to 
slavery. 

Of  course  a  common  council's  first  duty  is 
to  save  the  souls  of  its  burghers,  although  they 
may  rob  them  of  their  wealth  in  so  doing.  In 
the  United  States  murder  is  a  trivial  amuse- 
ment, and  stealing  almost  a  praiseworthy  en- 
terprise. In  Australia,  strange  to  say,  both 
are  more  severely  frowned  upon  and  sup- 
pressed than  boxing  and  horse  racing.  Upon 
the  whole  I  think  that  regard  for  the  law  is 
much  stronger  there  than  here.  The  verdicts 
of  the  juries  as  recorded  in  the  legal  columns 
of  the  daily  press  seem  to  make  this  statement 
unquestionable.  While  I  was  there  two  officers 
of  trades  unions  were  sentenced  to  the  peni- 
tentiary for  striking.  I  know  this  statement 
seems   incredible,  but  I  challenge   contradic- 


102  The  Australians. 

tion.  Of  course  no  one  believes  a  jury  could 
be  found  in  the  United  States  that  would  con- 
vict a  union  man  of  mayhem,  arson,  murder  or 
any  other  crime  in  the  penal  code.  As  a  lawyer 
of  over  forty  years  standing  I  think  myself 
entitled  to  say  that  our  trials  by  jury  are  only 
Judge  Lynch  courts,  that  the  juries  are  only 
swayed  by  their  sympathies  to  the  absolute 
exclusion  of  the  law  and  evidence. 

In  truth-telling  and  honesty  in  petty  mat- 
ters I  think  they  lead  the  world.  I  soon  learned 
to  my  great  surprise  that  I  could  rely  upon  the 
statements  of  their  shopkeepers.  They  seemed 
entirely  above  lying  in  order  to  sell  goods.  I 
think  our  storekeepers  are  far  ahead  of 
Europe  in  this  respect,  immeasurably  above 
those  of  some  nations  I  might  mention,  but  in 
some  places  ours  are  bad  enough.  With  some 
exceptions  the  storekeepers  of  New  York  will 
lie  as  easily  and  quickly  for  five  cents  as  for 
five  dollars.  In  Chicago  they  are  almost  as 
bad.  I  would  like  to  tell  my  experiences  in 
Chicago,  my  own  town,  since  I  returned.  Upon 
the  whole  I  regard  the  Australians  as  a  kind- 
hearted,  generous  and  praiseworthy  people.  I 
made  some  friends  among  them  whom  I  shall 
ever  remember  with  pleasure,  and  I  parted 


The  Australians.  103 

from  the  entire  population  with  perhaps 
warmer  feelings  than  from  any  other  foreign 
people  whatsoever.  I  sometimes,  however, 
felt  like  grabbing  them  by  the  coat  collar  and 
shaking  them  for  their  stupidity.  Even  the 
girls,  but  this  spanking  at  long  distance  is  in 
no  way  incited  by  hatred. 

I  only  met  their  professors,  newspaper  men, 
clergymen  and  high-class  business  men.  As  I 
am  not  a  student  of  sociological  questions  I  did 
not  meet  the  proletariat,  but  frequently  read 
their  daily  newspapers.  The  men  with  whom 
I  talked,  without  exception,  admitted  Aus- 
tralia's deficiencies  and  even  gave  me  un- 
known examples  in  proof  of  it.  They,  how- 
ever, would  not  concede  that  it  was  due  in  any 
respect  to  English  inborn  stupidity.  They  at- 
tributed it  wholly  to  another  cause,  which  I 
will  proceed  to  take  up  in  another  chapter. 


104  Diseased  Australia. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Diseased  Australia. 

Australia  is,  with  the  exception  of  New  Zea- 
land, the  country  in  the  world  where  state 
paternalism  is  the  strongest;  I  mean  where 
the  state,  the  commonwealth,  the  res  publica 
endeavors  to  do  the  most  for  the  individual 
and  the  most  curbs  his  own  efforts  to  work  out 
his  own  welfare,  where  the  state  steps  in  and 
tries  to  take  on  its  own  shoulders  all  the  re- 
sults of  profligacy,  idleness,  wastefulness  and 
thoughtlessness  on  the  part  of  the  individual. 
I  will  call  it  socialism.  They  refuse  to  call  it 
by  that  name  in  Australia,  but  that  is  a  mere 
choice  of  terms.  They  call  it  "public  owner- 
ship of  utilities"  and  other  pet  names. 
Avowed  socialists  in  the  United  States  admit 
to  me  that  it  is  experimental  socialism.  I  shall 
call  it  that. 


Diseased  Australia.  105 

I  ought  to  admit  right  at  the  start  that  I  am 
not  a  socialist.  That  theory  is  not  strong 
among  farmers.  I  believe  firmly  that  if  people 
were  to  live  sensibly  nine-tenths  of  all  the 
trouble  in  the  world,  whether  from  poverty  or 
otherwise,  would  disappear;  that  three  hours 
of  work  per  day  from  each  individual  would 
suffice  for  all  needs,  but  I  would  say  to  every 
individual  you  must  live  sensibly  and  do  those 
three  hours  work  or  take  the  consequences. 
But  the  trouble  is  that  most  people  do  not 
want  to  live  sensibly,  that  is  the  thing  they 
most  try  to  avoid.  What  they  most  try  to 
realize  is  the  escape  from  the  penalty.  I  take 
it  that  socialism  puts  the  penalty  on  industry 
and  thrift,  and  gives  the  reward  to  idleness 
and  improvidence.  As  I  have  been  farming 
for  twenty-five  years,  am  now  eating  the  fruits 
plucked  from  trees  of  my  own  planting,  and 
daily  work  in  my  garden  for  some  hours,  I 
have  a  right  to  such  belief.  When  I  further 
say  that  I  have  a  long,  long  record  of  altruistic 
efforts  in  behalf  of  individual  members  of  the 
Chicago  so-called  poor,  every  one  of  which  met 
with  total  failure,  I  think  I  may  draw  on  my 
experience  in  support  of  my  position.  On  the 
other  hand  I  have,  as  a  Chicago  landlord,  been 


106  Diseased  Australia. 

personally  reproached  for  hard-heartedness 
by  individuals  who  were  probably  destined  to 
die  in  the  poor  house  or  county  hospital,  who 
never  in  their  whole  lives  made  an  effort  even 
on  their  own  behalf,  let  alone  others,  except  to 
spend  all  their  own  money  before  they  got  it. 
This  much  is  certain,  however,  I  returned 
from  Australia  less  of  a  socialist  than  when  I 
went  thither. 

American  papers  often  refer  to  Australia  as 
an  argument  in  favor  of  the  single  tax  theory, 
which  they  claim  is  a  halfway  house  to  Henry 
Georgeism.  Whether  movable  goods  in  Aus- 
tralia are  subject  to  a  specific  tax  or  not  it  did 
not  occur  to  me  to  ask,  but  I  deem  it  not  ma- 
terial to  the  issue  whether  they  are  or  not. 
While  people  are  paying  from  four  to  six  per 
cent  every  year  on  the  selling  value  of  every 
non-income-producing  vacant  lot  they  own  in 
Chicago  as  a  tax,  while  one  man  who  is  said  to 
own  over  thirty  million  dollars  worth  of  in- 
come producing  stocks  and  bonds  in  the  same 
place  pays  tax  on  only  $200,000  of  them,  I 
think  we  are  near  enough  to  single  tax  for  all 
practical  purposes.  I  know  that  Australia 
does  not  have  a  single  tax.  Every  receipt, 
every  check  and  every  legal  document  must 


Diseased  Australia.  107 

be  stamped  the  same  as  letters  are  with  us. 
All  of  us  who  went  through  the  Civil  and 
Spanish  wars  know  what  a  burdensome,  vexa- 
tious and  oppressive  tax  that  is,  and  then 
every  business  from  that  of  the  poor  widow 
with  her  few  boarders  to  the  great  hotel  must 
pay  for  a  license  or  permit.  Possibly  the  dis- 
ciples of  Henry  George  would  not  call  that  a 
tax.  Then  there  is  the  income  tax  and  import 
tax,  and  I  wish  I  could  enumerate  all  that 
might  come  under  that  head.  My  impression 
is  that  the  country  element  pays  many  more 
kinds  of  tax  than  the  American  farmer  who 
pays  only  on  his  land  and  his  stock.  Postage 
we  can  hardly  call  a  tax  as  that  is  for  service 
directly  rendered,  while  the  government  does 
not  draw  up  your  receipts,  checks  or  legal 
documents. 

It  is  not  possible  for  me  to  give  a  complete 
list  of  all  government  functions  in  that  coun- 
try. I  could  not  get  in  any  form  a  complete 
catalog  and  its  extent;  what  I  did  get  would 
make  a  larger  book  than  this  will  be  and  more 
tiresome  to  read,  I  believe.  I  might  say  it 
leaves  to  the  individual  the  task  of  bringing 
the  successive  generations  into  the  world  and 
little  beyond.    The  state  owns  all  the  railways. 


108  Diseased  Australia. 

all  the  street  cars,  all  the  telegraphs,'  tele- 
phones, lighting  plants,  water  plants,  owns 
most  of  and  is  trying  to  own  all  the  lands  and 
mines.  It  runs  banks,  sleeping  cars,  railway 
eating  houses.  It  insures  your  life  and  your 
old  age.  It  regulates  just  what  wages  you 
shall  receive  or  pay.  I  append  the  following 
clipping  from  a  Sydney  daily  paper,  as  above 
statement  may  seem  incredible.  I  saw 
numerous  other  references  to  this  question, 
and  its  correctness  may  not  be  doubted. 

JUDGE  ON  "BLACKLEGGING." 


Have  Men  No  Manhood. 

In  the  Industrial  Court  yesterday  a  carter  admitted 
that  he  had  signed  for  £2  3s  per  week  for  some  con- 
siderable time,  although  his  employer  paid  him  only 
£2. 

Judge  Heydon :  Well,  if  people  will  sign  a  thing 
that  is  false — 

Witness:  What  was  I  to  do?  Am  I  to  leave  my 
wife  and  children  to  starve? 

Judge  Heydon :  What  are  you  to  do  ?  You,  a  man 
there,  and  asking  me  that?  Are  men  prepared  to 
make  no  sacrifice  for  their  manhood?  I  am  perfectly 
astonished.  A  man  seems  to  think  that  pressure  of 
circumstances  is  excuse  for  a  thing  of  this  kind. 

Union  Representative:  We  wish  to  take  certain 
steps  to  do  away  with  this  kind  of  thing. 

Judge  Heydon :  We've  had  a  strike  on  for  some- 
thing like  four  months.     No  question  of  starving  en- 


Diseased  Australia.  109 

tered  into  that.  Here  a  man  comes  into  court  who 
has  signed  for  a  wage  by  which  he  has  blacklegged,  * 
and  has  helped  to  defraud  his  fellow  men,  and  does  it 
because,  as  he  says,  he  cannot  allow  his  children  to 
starve.  Men  seem  to  be  willing  to  enter  into  a  con- 
spiracy with  their  employers  to  defraud  their  fellow 
men.  You  go  and  accept  a  lower  wage,  and  allow  the 
award  to  crumble  away.  What  is  the  use  of  making 
an  award?  You  then  come  into  court  and  pull  a  poor 
mouth.     You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself. 

The  state  says  just  what  time  you  may  open 
your  shop  and  at  what  hour  you  must  close  it, 
I  saw  reports  in  court  proceedings  of  store 
keepers  who  were  arrested  and  fined  for  keep- 
ing open  fifteen  minutes  after  legal  time  for 
closing.  It  says  that  in  addition  to  Sunday 
you  must  close  for  half  a  day  as  holiday,  which 
must  be  either  Wednesday  or  Saturday  after- 
noon, which  time,  however,  you  register  with 
the  government.  As  customers  usually  do  not 
know  which  day  is  taken  dealers  usually  close 
both,  as  they  told  me  because  while  expenses 
go  on  the  alternate  days  nobody  comes  in.  To 
a  reporter  said  one  store  keeper  who  had  been 
arrested  several  times  and  fined  for  keeping 
open  a  few  minutes  after  time  to  accommodate 
customers  then  in  the  store:  **I  am  so  har- 
rassed  by  officials  that  I  am  greatly  inclined 
to  close  my  doors  for  good  and  never  open 


110  Diseased  Australia. 

them  again.''  This  I  read  myself  in  one  of 
their  daily  newspapers.  Your  books  must  be 
constantly  open  to  unexpected  visits  of  in- 
spectors; every  detail  is  under  their  super- 
vision. If  you  are  making  too  much  money 
you  are  warned.  If  the  government  wants  to 
conduct  same  business  you  are  ousted.  This 
on  the  authority  of  a  man  who  had  been  in 
business  there  and  who  was  coming  to  try  his 
fortune  in  Canada.  In  our  country  every  dis- 
tillery, in  the  theory  of  the  law,  is  conducting 
a  branch  of  government  business;  that  the 
owners  are  only  supervising  the  business  for 
the  government.  I  would  say  that  applies  to 
every  line  of  enterprise  in  Australia.  Nor  is 
the  family  exempt;  wages  of  domestics  are 
regulated,  their  hours  of  work,  holidays,  per- 
quisites, laid  down  to  utmost  degree.  I  do  not 
know  if  the  law  regulates  the  number  of  times 
each  week  a  man  may  kiss  his  wife. 

You  are  not  permitted  to  introduce  a  new 
enterprise  or  invention  without  government 
sanction.  Australia  raises  much  wheat  which 
is  exported  to  England.  It  is  put  into  sacks, 
vmloaded  by  hand  from  wagons  at  the  stations, 
piled  up  in  great  stacks  on  the  platform,  where 
it  stands  exposed  to  the  pouring  rain  for  days 


Diseased  Australia.  Ill 

One  time  while  there  it  rained  steadily  for  a 
week  upon  it.  Then  loaded  into  the  goods 
vans  by  hand,  unloaded  by  hand  at  port,  and 
carried  into  the  hold  of  steamers  by  hand, 
where  I  bade  good  bye  to  it.  An  American 
went  there  and  attempted  to  introduce  a  sys- 
tem of  elevators  as  in  this  country.  Govern- 
ment refused  to  allow  him  to  build  even  one, 
stating  that  when  they  thought  elevators 
needed  they  would  build  them  themselves.  1 
have  this  on  reliable  authority.  While  there 
a  mere  boy  of  a  scientific  turn  of  mind  rigged 
up  a  sort  of  wireless  telegraph  at  his  own  ex- 
pense and  caught  a  message  from  a  British 
man  of  war  lying  in  a  port  at  New  Zealand. 
The  newspapers  made  a  great  ado  about  the 
matter,  both  on  account  of  its  being  done  by  a 
boy  and  being  the  first  time  a  message  had 
ever  been  received  on  land  in  Australia.  Of 
course  there  is  no  wireless  in  that  land. 
Government  stepped  in  and  stopped  him.  On 
his  appealing  to  the  press  he  was  told  by  same 
authority  that  upon  payment  by  him  of  $20 
per  year  he  might  experiment,  but  that  on  no 
account  might  he  receive  or  send  any  message ; 
that  it  was  fully  decided  by  government  that 
no  new  enterprises  by  individuals  would  be 


112  Diseased  Australia. 

permitted.  I  usually  in  a  foreign  land  try  to 
keep  my  mouth  shut,  that  is  as  far  as  a  portion 
of  Irish  blood  would  let  me,  but  this  was  too 
much.  Sitting  in  a  club  where  some  news- 
paper writers  were  seated  I  denounced  the 
condition.  I  stated  that  I  thought  I  had  at 
times  seen  the  limit  of  executive  stupidity  in 
America,  but  that  this  far  surpassed  the  limits 
of  even  my  vivid  imagination. 

The  human  race  has  not  yet  sounded  the 
depths  of  nature ;  like  its  ruler  it  is  infinite.  As 
many  great  principles  still  lie  undiscovered  as 
have  been  disclosed  by  man  to  the  present 
time.  The  investigation  of  natural  principles 
respond  to  encouragement;  it  will  be  as  easily 
chilled  by  discouragement.  Australia  will 
never  lead  in  the  search  for  new  truths.  No 
Marconi  or  Edison  will  ever  arise  in  that 
country.  If  one  should  make  a  discovery, 
which  is  improbable,  he  will  go  to  Canada  or 
the  United  States  to  reap  the  harvest  of  his 
ingenuity. 

All  over  the  United  States  little  villages  and 
communities  have  established  their  own  sys- 
tem of  telephones.  In  some  places,  where  I 
live  for  instance,  with  two  telephone  systems 
a  few  relatives  have  their  own  little  telephone 


Diseased  Australia.  113 

for  their  own  privacy  and  family  convenience. 
Such  a  state  of  affairs  could  not  exist  there. 

How  far  all  this  goes  I  have  not  the  infor- 
mation at  hand  nor  the  space  to  give  it  if  I  had. 
I  append,  however,  this  clipping  from  Pear- 
son's Magazine,  an  English  as  well  as  Amer- 
ican publication : 

Nor  is  there  such  a  venerable  parasite  in  New  South 
Wales,  Victoria  or  South  Australia.  In  all  of  these 
places,  the  capatalistic  grafter  has  been  cut  out,  so 
far  as  the  marketing  of  farm  products  is  concerned. 
New  South  Wales  not  only  undertakes  to  kill,  dress 
and  market  cattle,  hogs  and  sheep,  but  kills  and  mark- 
ets poultry,  besides  handling  butter,  grain,  wine,  fruit, 
honey,  or  anything  else  of  the  sort  that  the  farmer 
wants  to  put  on  the  market. 

All  of  which  soimds  very  attractive,  but  the 
result  of  which  is  that  there  the  farmer  is 
more  fleeced  to  support  hordes  of  city  dwellers 
than  in  any  other  country  on  earth.  Put  all 
your  money  in  my  pocket  and  I  will  do  you 
good  is  a  plea  that  has  humbugged  the  human 
race  since  man  was  first  created. 

Where  a  people  have  made  such  strides  to- 
wards the  millennium  one  naturally  looks  for 
a  happy,  prosperous,  contented  people.  You 
ask  what  more  could  a  people  possibly  want? 
The  first  thing  that  assails  the  visitor  is  a 
clamor  that  reaches  the  sky,  exceeding  any- 


114  Diseased  Australia. 

thing  we  have  heard  in  this  comitry  since  the 
anti-slavery  crusade.  No  words  are  spared, 
no  epithets  neglected;  every  property  owner, 
every  business  man,  every  person  who  lends 
money,  is  termed  a  robber,  an  undesirable.  He 
is  told  that  he  and  his  kind  are  to  be  extermi- 
nated, that  the  sooner  he  leaves  Australia  the 
better.  Every  year  new  laws  are  made  to 
check  the  business  man's  success;  every  year 
he  finds  harder  to  do  business.  On  the  other 
hand  the  office  holders  are  called  every  name 
that  vigorous  Anglo-Saxon  dialect  can  imagine. 
They  are  told  they  deserve  hanging.  The 
whole  matter  only  stops  short  of  throat  cut- 
ting and  internecine  war.  The  feeling  is  as 
bitter  as  in  our  own  country  between  slave 
holder  and  abolitionist  in  1860,  and  Australia 
suffers  from  it  all,  without  any  prospect  of 
healing  of  its  wounds  throughout  all  time.  I 
grant  the  newspapers  there  give  their  readers 
the  right  to  express  their  thoughts,  whether 
it  agrees  with  the  editorial  tone  of  the  paper  or 
not,  in  strong  contrast  with  our  own  which 
only  publish  coincidence  with  their  own 
views,  and  some  of  the  letters  published  are 
specimens  of  vigorous  English.  Nor  do  indi- 
viduals use  less  direct  language  in  conversa- 


Diseased  Australia.  115 

tion  with  reference  to  the  popular  leaders. 
Nobody  in  the  United  States  really  wants  to 
hang  Joe  Cannon  or  Roosevelt.  The  conserva- 
tive business  element  would  really  like  to  hang 
their  leaders.  And  yet  socialism  in  Australia 
has,  according  to  its  advocates,  only  made  a 
beginning,  that  efforts  would  not  cease  until 
government  owned  everything.  I  append 
their  platform  as  taken  from  the  leading  union 
labor  organ,  a  daily  paper: 

FIGHTING  PLATFORM. 

With  the  items  already  mentioned,  our  platform 
includes : — 

1.  Maintenance  of  White  Australia. 

2.  The  new  protection. 

3.  Nationalization  of  monopolies. 

4.  Graduated  tax  on  unimproved  land  values. 

5.  Citizen  defence  force. 

6.  Commonwealth  Bank. 

7.  Restriction  of  public  borrowing. 

8.  Navigation  laws. 

9.  Arbitration  Act  amendment. 

10.  Insurance,  including  insurance  against  unem- 
ployment. 

Under  one  name  or  another  the  different  functions 
of  the  old  regime  have  ruled  Australia  since  con- 
stitutional government  was  granted.  The  progressive 
legislation  of  recent  years  is  due,  not  to  them,  but  to 
the  influence — Parliamentary  and  educational — of  the 
Labor  Party.  We  now  ask  the  electors  to  give  us  a 
majority  to  break  down  land  monopoly,  develop 
Australia,  give  effect  to  our  own  platform,  and  ad- 
minister our  laws. 


116  Diseased  Australia. 

The  greatest  fight  is  now  being  made  for 
government  wages  for  the  unemployed.  This 
of  course  has  the  hearty  support  of  the  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  idle  men  who  hang 
around  Circular  Quay  and  the  parks,  and  of 
the  orators  who  nightly  orate  to  applauding 
multitudes  in  the  public  squares.  When  I 
asked  one  of  them  what  would  be  done  in  that 
case  with  the  immense  and  ever  increasing 
army  of  unemployed  I  was  told  that  govern- 
ment would  apportion  them  off  and  compel 
each  one  to  labor  a  given  time  at  government 
industries.  En  passant;  I  earnestly  desire 
that  Australia  would  introduce  both  of  those 
laws.  I  believe  in  vivisection,  otherwise  try- 
ing it  on  a  dog. 

The  great  question  that  has  been  always 
asked  me  since  I  came  home  was:  **What  ser- 
vice does  the  state  give  the  people?"  Bureau- 
cratic service,  that  is,  as  little  for  the  money 
as  possible,  formal,  careless,  indifferent  and 
blundering.  Try  doing  business  in  the  Chicago 
City  Hall  or  County  Court  Building,  and  then 
do  business  with  some  great  bank  or  mercan- 
tile establishment  and  you  will  learn  what 
bureaucracy  means.  I  was  taught  this  lesson 
when  a  young  lawyer.    I  wished  to  ascertain 


Diseased  Australia.  117 

whether  a  certain  class  of  United  States  bonds 
existed  as  I  suspected  a  swindle  based  on  their 
alleged  ownership.  I  went  to  the  subtreasurer 
in  Chicago,  a  man  who  for  many  years  had 
held  all  the  positions  within  the  gift  of  the 
people  except  that  of  president  of  the  United 
States.  He  did  not  know,  he  stated,  but  re- 
ferred me  to  his  cashier,  who  had  formerly 
been  sheriff  of  Cook  County.  He  did  not  know 
but  referred  me  to  an  employee  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Chicago,  who  he  said,  might 

know.    Mr.  S ,  the  employee  in  question, 

hardly  looking  up  from  his  work  replied: 
"There  are  no  such  bonds,  and  there  were 
never  such  bonds." 

Their  bureau  of  information  is  state  owned. 
They  answer  your  question  by  giving  you  a 
printed  sheet  through  a  wicket.  That  friendly, 
chatty  interview  so  common  and  so  instructive 
all  over  our  states  is  wholly  foreign  to  them. 
It  is  like  buying  postage  stamps.  I  am  not 
able  to  speak  of  their  telegraph  and  other 
state  service  in  all  its  ramifications,  but  judge 
from  the  volume  of  complaints  that  constantly 
arise  there  is  the  same  chilly  bureaucratic  air 
of  great  favor  conferred  in  attending  to  the 
matter  at  all. 


118  Diseased  Australia. 

In  their  railway  service  I  can  speak  more 
definitely.  It  fully  exemplifies  the  truth  that 
all  public  enterprises  are  terribly  shiftless, 
expensive  and  inferior.  Australians  pay  just 
twice  as  much  for  first-class  fares  as  we  do  in 
Illinois,  same  being  there  four  cents  per  mile 
against  two  here.  Their  sleeping  car  rates  on 
top  of  that  are  about  the  same  as  in  our  Pull- 
mans, but  there  all  comparison  ceases.  No- 
where in  all  the  United  States,  in  Florida, 
Arkansas  or  Arizona  will  one  find  such  poor 
equipments  as  their  first-class  cars.  Dirty 
cars  with  seats  covered  with  leather  cushions 
full  of  holes  and  fleas,  leaking  in  the  rain, 
dripping  oil  all  the  time,  running  over  wab- 
bling road  beds  while  making  about  twenty 
miles  per  hour,  is  the  best  they  can  offer  to  the 
highest  rate  payers.  Second-class  cars  are 
about  equal  to  our  freight  cars,  with  cloth- 
covered,  straight-back  benches.  Of  our  splen- 
did efficient  service  in  all  its  branches  they 
cannot  even  dream.  If  anyone  favors  state 
ownership  of  railroads  I  would  advise  him  to 
visit  that  country  before  he  votes  for  it. 

A  small  matter,  but  I  note  that  time  tables, 
or  as  we  call  them  ''folders",   which   in  the 


Diseased  Australia.  119 

United  States  are  given  away  are  there  paid 
for  at  two  cents  each. 

As  to  their  street  car  service  it  is  equally 
lacking;  it  is  scarce  and  vexatious.  They  make 
much  of  their  two-cent  fare,  but  that  is  only 
for  a  few  blocks  with  no  transfer.  The  towns 
are  cut  up  into  sections  which  you  do  not 
know,  and  you  may  get  on  one  block  short  of 
a  section,  then  off  one  block  beyond  a  section. 
You  have  ridden  perhaps  half  a  mile  and  paid 
six  cents.  To  ride  as  far  as  from  State  Street 
to  Austin  in  Chicago  would  cost  fourteen 
cents,  as  against  five  cents  with  us.  I  found 
that  to  visit  a  suburban  village  about  four  or 
five  miles  from  Circular  Quay  would  invari- 
ably cost  me  ten  cents  each  way.  Upon  the 
whole  I  found  street  car  fares  cost  me  con- 
siderably more  in  Brisbane  or  Sydney  than  in 
any  American  city.  It  was  hardly  worth 
while  risking  one's  life  getting  on  and  off  for 
the  three  or  four  blocks  covered  by  a  penny  or 
two  cent  fare.  The  cars  run  only  on  the  best 
streets  where  they  will  make  a  good  showing. 
The  passengers  from  New  Zealand  boats  are 
landed  at  the  foot  of  a  hill  in  Sydney  perhaps 
seventy  or  eighty  feet  high,  half  a  mile  away 
from  the  street  cars.    I  saw  women  leading 


120  Diseased  Australia. 

little  children,  lugging  great  telescopes  and 
bundles  up  that  great  height  where  a  man 
would  not  care  to  climb.  A  street  leading  di- 
rectly along  the  wharves  runs  towards  the  city 
hall,  which  is  the  real  heart  of  the  town,  from 
which  with  transfers  one  could  go  in  any  di- 
rection. One  reason  of  this  scarcity  of  lines, 
they  tell  me,  is  that  bonds  must  be  sold  to  lay 
every  mile  of  track,  which  costs  the  govern- 
ment twice  as  much  as  though  laid  by  private 
enterprise,  and  the  interest  on  those  bonds  is 
paid  by  taxation.  So  that  the  tax  payer  pays 
for  street  car  rides  if  he  does  not  even  live  in 
the  town.  I  think  if  I  were  a  sheep  raiser 
living  sixty  or  eighty  miles  from  a  railroad  I 
would  say:  ''It  is  all  right  for  you  to  enjoy  the 
dissipations  of  city  life,  which  are  dearer  to 
you  than  existence  itself,  but  pay  for  them; 
don't  ask  me  to  do  so."  And  this,  in  addition 
to  poor,  expensive  service,  is  just  what  they 
are  doing.  Their  intelligent  men  all  admit 
that  their  whole  system  of  government  tends 
to  congest  everything  in  their  state  capitals, 
and  to  support  at  high  salaries  great  hordes 
of  shirking,  time-stealing  officials  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  farming  element  and  to  the  de- 
terioration of  the  agricultural  regions.    As  a 


Diseased  Australia.  121 

large  city  shut  up  by  siege  soon  reaches  the 
starvation  point,  so  a  city  would  soon  tax  it- 
self to  poverty  and  bankruptcy  if  it  did  not  in 
some  way  contrive  to  bleed  the  outside  with- 
out compensation.  In  Australia  they  have 
carried  this  to  a  fine  point.  The  country  now 
does  everything  for  Melbourne,  Sydney  and 
Brisbane  but  feeding  and  housing  the  people, 
and  they  are  clamoring  for  that;  I  think  they 
will  get  it.  If  the  sheep  raiser  submits  to  it  he 
deserves  the  bleeding  he  will  certainly  get. 

The  system  not  only  robs  the  country  ele- 
ment but  it  deprives  even  the  young  city  man 
of  all  incentive  to  exertion.  He  looks  forward 
only  to  holding  an  office  in  some  bureau.  That 
air  of  reaching  out  for  great  things  so  common 
to  our  young  man  is  wholly  wanting.  His  is 
the  air  of  a  serf  who  does  not  even  dream  of 
liberty.  If  he  is  not  thinking  of  holding  an 
office  he  is  planning  to  emigrate.  As  a  result 
of  it  all  I  predict  that  Australia  fiftj^  years 
from  now  will  be  further  behind  in  the  race 
for  comparative  wealth  than  now.  She  will 
still  have  the  land.  All  the  rest  will  be  owned 
by  the  bond  holders  in  Europe,  and  her  own 
children  will  curse  her  name. 


122  The  Chinese  Question. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Chinese  Question. 

It  ill  becomes  any  man  residing  in  the 
United  States,  considering  our  inhuman  treat- 
ment of  the  Chinamen  who  have  sneaked  into 
our  country,  to  criticize  Australia  for  exclud- 
ing them.  However,  as  I  do  not  agree  with 
our  policy  in  that  respect  I  think  I  have  that 
right.  In  fact  I  will  assume  the  prophet's 
right  which  has  existed  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world:  *' You  must  not  do  as  I  do  but  do  as 
I  say."  I  don't  want  any  colonial  to  throw 
back  at  me  that  because  I  exclude  a  poor 
undersized  human  being  who  lacks  every 
expert  trade  or  profession  and  cannot  even 
speak  the  language  of  the  country  where  he 
wants  to  earn  the  little  he  eats,  he,  the  said 
colonial,  is  thereby  justified  in  so  doing.  I 
may  be  a  fool,  but  that  is  no  reason  for  your 
doing  foolish  things. 


The  Chinese  Question.  128 

Personally  I  agree  with  Socrates  wherein  he 
says:  '*I  am  not  merely  a  citizen  of  Athens.  I 
am  a  citizen  of  the  world."  I  believe  that  the 
world  belongs  to  all  the  people  in  the  world; 
that  every  man  has  a  natural  born  right  to  go 
anywhere  in  the  world  to  earn  his  bread  and 
butter  and  rear  his  little  family  where  he 
stands  the  best  chance  of  elevating  them  above 
his  standard;  that  all  peoples  are  either  human 
beings  or  beasts  of  burden.  If  humans  they 
should  be  so  treated,  if  beasts  of  burden  the 
more  of  them  in  the  country  the  richer  it  is, 
the  same  as  though  they  were  mules  or  horses. 
It  does  not  necessarily  follow  from  this  that 
they  should  vote  or  govern  us.  On  the  con- 
trary we  have  been  going  too  far  in  letting 
foreigners  who  have  only  been  in  our  country 
six  months  or  a  3"ear  to  decide  our  elections, 
but  even  that  has  damaged  us  less  than  the  use 
of  unlimited  suffrage  in  our  large  cities. 
Where  foreigners  have  gone  out  with  the  rest 
into  the  wilderness  as  pioneers  it  is  right  they 
should  help  build  up  the  state  from  its  founda- 
tion, and  upon  the  whole  it  has  been  for  the 
country's  benefit.  An}^  European  of  good 
habits  who  has  moved  into  the  wilderness  and 
put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel  is  a  help  to  the 


124  The  Chinese  Question. 

community,  even  if  he  can  only  count  his  resi- 
dence by  months;  and  that  problem  is  a  very 
short  one;  life  is  very  short.  Of  the  great 
German  and  Irish  immigration  of  forty  years 
ago  nearly  all  the  participants  are  dead;  they 
did  not  wreck  the  country;  they  did  not  come 
here  for  that  purpose.  Nor  will  the  new  comers 
wreck  the  country  if  our  people  act  in  a  sensi- 
ble manner;  they  do  not  come  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  principle  of  allowing  one  set  of  men 
to  spend  the  money  and  compelling  another 
set  to  pay  all  the  bills  is  a  much  more  danger- 
ous heresy.  If  the  country  be  wrecked  it  will 
be  through  the  vicious,  penniless  element,  the 
voters  who  now  decide  all  our  elections  except 
in  the  rural  communities.  So  far  the  system 
has  proved  a  failure  in  all  our  large  cities,  and 
one  hundred  years'  trial  shows  that  the  city 
loafer  and  lodging-house  bum  is  a  more  dan- 
gerous element  in  the  community  than  the 
newly-arrived  immigrant  even  though  the 
tough's  ancestors  may  have  come  over  in  the 
Mayflower.  Still  I  would  lay  it  down  as  a 
principle  that  no  man  should  vote  unless  he 
has  lived  twenty-one  years  in  the  country,  and 
that  no  man  should  vote  to  say  how  taxes 
should  be  sj^ent  unless   he   also   paid   taxes. 


The  Chinese  Question.  126 

While  I  think  it  is  the  proper  province  of  the 
state  legislature  to  pass  restraining  laws  of  all 
kinds,  I  do  not  take  it  to  be  the  province  of  a 
city  administration  to  save  souls.  A  city  should 
be  a  great  corporation  run  for  the  benefit  of 
the  stockholders  the  same  as  a  great  modern 
hotel  is  run  by  its  stockholders.  These  princi- 
ples being  agreed  to,  which  I  do  not  expect  the 
average  city  man  to  agree  to,  no  inunigrant 
unless  he  be  an  out-and-out  criminal  can  be  a 
menace  to  our  form  of  government  or  other- 
wise than  a  benefit  to  the  community,  as  much 
so  as  a  mule  or  a  horse,  or  a  steam  engine  or  a 
water  mill. 

While  our  immigration  laws  are  supposed  to 
exclude  Asiatics,  the  fact  is  that  they  do  not. 
Possibly  Hindoos,  but  certainly  only  the 
Chinese  are  kept  out.  They  have  only  to  come 
by  way  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  all  the  Jews, 
Armenians,  Turks,  Arabs,  Syrians  and  Rus- 
sians of  Asia  can  come  in.  Also  the  Japs  from 
the  west  if  provided  with  a  passport.  Such  a 
rule  convicts  any  country  of  barbarism,  so 
much  so  as  the  Egyptians  when  it  was  death 
for  a  stranger  to  enter  their  kingdom,  even 
ship-wrecked  sailors  being  put  to  death.  So 
that  it  all  simmers  down  to  the  fact  that  we 


126  The  Chinese  Question. 

fear  the  Chinese  and  no  other  people  on  earth. 
Before  we  take  np  that  question  with  refer- 
ence to  Australia,  I  think  we  may  ask  how  far 
that  discrimination  is  justified  with  reference 
to  ourselves.  A  winter  spent  in  Honolulu 
about  eight  years  ago  enlightened  me  greatly 
on  that  matter.  They  had  been  well  treated 
under  the  native  Hawaiian  government,  and  it 
was  they  who  really  created  the  islands.  It 
was  the  best  place  I  have  ever  been  in  to  study 
their  development  under  favorable  circum- 
stances. Americans  who  had  lived  long  on  the 
islands  were  unanimous  in  expressing  the 
opinion  that  they  were  an  industrious,  temper- 
ate, honest,  law-abiding  and  provident  people. 
My  own  eyes  taught  me  that  when  prosperous, 
as  many  of  them  were,  they  lived  in  as  fine 
houses,  ate  as  well,  dressed  as  well,  and  spent 
money  for  entertainment  as  freely  as  any  peo- 
ple of  same  circumstances  from  Europe.  Many 
of  them  kept  fine  horses  and  carriages  and 
coachmen;  all  rode  on  street  cars  freely  and 
bought  American  or  European  made  goods 
when  they  suited  their  convenience.  Nor  did 
they  all  try  to  stay  in  the  city  loafing  around 
the  streets  by  thousands  or  earning  a  pre- 
carious existence  by  any  and  every  despicable 


The  Chinese  Question.  127 

method  imaginable  like  so  many  of  our  Euro- 
pean new-comers.  They  were  the  main  stay 
of  the  sugar  plantations,  the  gardeners  and 
fishers.  Up  against  the  sides  of  the  mountains, 
down  in  the  swamps,  wherever  a  space  not 
much  larger  than  an  American  house  could  be 
cut  out  lived  a  Chinaman,  patient  and  satis- 
fied. He  was  yellow  and  a  heathen,  but  for  one 
I  felt  that  so  long  as  he  lived  that  way  he  had 
the  right  to  go  anywhere  that  he  could  repeat 
the  act,  get  the  little  he  ate  from  the  soil  itself 
and  the  little  roof  to  cover  himself  and  his 
family.  The  second  generation  was  even 
a  more  interesting  study  to  me.  I  found  the 
young  men  born  and  brought  up  on  the  island 
scholarly  and  bright,  as  thoroughly  American- 
ized in  looks,  clothing  and  demeanor  as  any 
descendants  of  Europeans  in  Chicago.  One,  a 
fine  looking  merchant  at  the  head  of  a  large 
business,  I  asked  how  he  found  the  new 
American  regime  as  compared  with  the  old 
native  rule.  "Much  worse",  he  replied;  "sugar 
stocks  have  gone  down  more  than  one-half; 
everything  is  in  a  slump;  every  week  sees 
some  store  close;  even  the  Chinese  merchants 
are  selling  their  goods  for  whatever  they  can 
get  and  going  back  to  China.  On  top  of  this  the 


128  The  Chinese  Question. 

United  States  government  is  taking  away 
from  the  islands  every  year  eleven  hundred 
thousand  dollars  more  than  it  expends  here." 
I  was  too  astonished  and  paralyzed  to  say 
another  word.  I  hunted  up  my  newspaper 
friend  and  mentioned  what  the  Chinaman  had 
said.  He  said  it  was  true.  "Then",  I  ex- 
claimed, ''it  means  the  ultimate  bankruptcy  of 
the  whole  community,  as  it  cannot  long  stand 
the  clear  drain  of  over  a  million  a  year."  I  do 
not  know  that  I  started  it,  but  the  papers  took 
it  up,  published  columns  on  that  subject,  and 
were  ringing  the  changes  on  it  even  when  I 
left. 

I  found  what  he  had  said  to  be  true  to  the 
letter.  Honolulu  was  in  the  grip  of  an  unpar- 
alleled depression.  While  I  was  there  over  a 
dozen  American  stores  closed  their  doors  by 
actual  count.  The  hotels  were  being  run  at  a 
loss.  Every  boat  was  filled  with  whites  leav- 
ing the  islands  for  good,  whereas  it  was  com- 
monly said  in  the  good  old  days  of  Kalakaua 
among  the  Americans  diamonds  had  been 
more  common  than  ice,  and  champaign  had 
flowed  more  freely  than  water;  while  at  the 
same  time  whites  in  all  lines  of  expert  work 
were  paid  much  higher  wages  than  in  Cali- 


The  Chinese  Question.  129 

fornia.  The  whole  history  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  demonstrates  that  every  non-criminal 
Chinaman  is  an  addition  to  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  of  a  country.  Tahiti  also  proves  it 
today. 

About  thirty-five  years  ago  I  met  a  lumber 
manufacturer  from  some  place  in  Northern 
California  who  was  stopping  in  Chicago.  In 
answ^er  to  my  question  concerning  that  coun- 
try I  remember  distinctly  his  stating  that  two 
years  of  California  would  spoil  any  man,  that 
the  streets  of  San  Francisco  were  filled  with 
idle  men  who  claimed  to  be  hunting  work, 
while  away  from  the  city  he  could  get  no  one 
to  do  any  work  at  all  but  Chinese,  and  not 
enough  of  them.  In  his  very  language:  ''They 
won't  work  themselves  and  they  want  to  pre- 
vent the  Chinese  from  working  for  us. ' '  After 
three  extended  stays  in  San  Francisco  I  can 
say  that  the  same  is  absolutely  true  today.  Of 
all  the  large  cities  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  I  would  say  that  that  city  and  Sydney, 
Australia,  have  the  largest  body  of  habitual 
idlers.  Of  course  in  both  cities  there  are  very 
many  men  so  low,  so  drunken,  depraved,  lazy 
and  dishonest  that  neither  the  pressure  nor 
the  absence  of  Chinese  can  help.    These  we 


130  The  Chinese  Question, 

may  totally  disregard  in  our  considerations, 
except  that  each  of  them  has  a  vote.  The 
others  are  simply  standing  in  their  own  light. 
There  are  sensible  men  found  living  even  in 
the  great  cities,  but  their  voice  has  little 
weight.  There  have  been  men  all  along,  even 
in  California,  who  saw  the  truth.  Coming  east 
across  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  great  Siberia 
a  number  of  years  ago  I  became  acquainted 
with  one  of  the  lealing  business  men  of  San 
Francisco.  In  a  talk  with  him  on  those  ques- 
tions he  said:  "California  needs  badly  and 
could  take  care  of  thirty  thousand  Chinese 
immigrants  each  year.  They  would  only  make 
more  easy  jobs  for  so  many  more  lazy  whites 
who  are  now  going  hungry. ' '  A  Texas  gentle- 
man told  me  that  that  state  was  crazy  for 
labor.  That  a  hundred  thousand  Chinese  a 
year  going  thither  would  tend  to  make  the  lot 
of  every  white  man  and  woman  in  the  com- 
monwealth lighter  and  their  lives  more  pleas- 
ant. Living  as  I  do  in  the  country  fifty  miles 
from  Chicago,  where  it  is  impossible  to  get 
help,  man  or  woman,  I  can  say  the  same  thing 
of  Illinois. 

But  we  draw  the  line  at  Chinese.    All  the 
Negro  Fellahs  and  Bedouins  of  Africa  could 


The  Chinese  Question.  131 

come  unrestrained  into  the  United  States;  all 
the  degraded  natives  of  the  black  islands  and 
the  Carribean  coast ;  all  the  Indians  of  Mexico, 
South  or  Central  America  could  flock  hither, 
but  not  into  Australia.  They  tell  me  that 
neither  Chinese,  Negros,  Hindoos  nor  Indians, 
even  though  they  be  British  subjects  bom 
under  the  British  flag,  may  now  go  into  Aus- 
tralia; nor  even  the  Japanese,  their  national 
allies.  This  they  call  maintaining  the  white 
Australia. 

This  plea  comes  with  particularly  bad  grace 
from  Englishmen.  They  have  never  stopped  to 
consider  whether  the  aborigines  of  any  coun- 
try were  black,  yellow,  red  or  brown  when 
they  wanted  to  go  there.  The  mere  fact  that 
they  w^ere  off  color  was  a  very  strong  induce- 
ment to  go  into  their  country.  The  discovery 
of  a  people  not  white  living  anywhere  on  the 
globe  gave  them  divine  right  to  go  there  and 
take  possession.  No  nation  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world  has  ever  so  thoroughly  and 
so  extensivel}^  exploited  the  colored  races  as 
the  English.  Even  now  w^ere  a  large  island 
discovered  anywhere  on  the  earth,  with  people 
other  than  w^hite,  they  would  at  once  go  there 
and  raise  their  flag.    As  they  say  in  the  South 


182  The  Chinese  Question. 

Sea  Islands:  "First  comes  the  trader,  then 
comes  the  missionary,  then  comes  the 
soldier,  and  then  we  belong  to  the  great 
father".  It  is  quite  certain  that  Australia 
was  not  a  white  country  when  the  Eng- 
lish first  entered  the  country,  the  aborigi- 
nes being  the  blackest  of  the  black.  Even  now 
they  are  booming  Papua,  an  equatorial  conti- 
nent lying  to  the  north  of  Australia,  which  is 
said  to  be  inhabited  by  about  half  a  million  of 
people  belonging,  according  to  authority,  to 
the  same  race  as  the  Fiji  Islanders  ethnologic- 
ally.  Almost  every  day  one  sees  letters  from 
there  and  editorials  setting  forth  its  advant- 
ages for  whites  in  rubber  raising,  etc.,  telling 
the  needs  of  prospective  settlers,  etc.  This, 
although  not  much  over  one  per  cent  of  Aus- 
tralia itself  has  been  touched.  We  hear  no 
talk  about  the  maintenance  of  a  black  Papua. 

I  cannot  conceive  why  the  English  should 
fear  the  inferior  races.  It  is  a  mighty  poor 
Englishman  who  cannot  get  on  the  backs  of  a 
dozen  *' niggers"  and  make  them  carry  him. 
In  fact  the  whole  nation  is  carried  on  the  backs 
of  the  "niggers",  as  she  calls  them.  Without 
her  dependencies  the  English  are  fitted  to 


The  Chinese  Question.  133 

compete  with  neither  the  Frenchman,  German 
nor  Yankee  for  the  world's  trade. 

Talking  in  a  club  I  asked  a  Sydney  gentle- 
man of  intelligence  why  they  excluded  the 
Chinese.  He  replied  that  they  wanted  a  white 
Australia.  I  asked  him  if  they  were  not  per- 
mitted to  vote  how  that  would  affect  their 
ownership  of  Australia.  Without  replying  to 
the  question,  he  broke  out:  "They  would 
marry  our  white  women".  "There  is  no  law 
compelling  any  white  woman  to  marry  a 
Chinaman",  I  rejoined.  "Yes,  but  they  will 
do  it",  he  answered.  "Well  then",  I  said,  "if 
any  woman  wants  a  husband  so  badly  that  she 
will  marry  a  Chinaman  she  ought  to  be 
allowed  to  do  so."  He  would  talk  no  further 
on  the  subject. 

Since  when  have  the  English  been  so  par- 
ticular about  keeping  their  blood  pure  1  They 
go  to  China  and  marry  the  Chinese,  to  India 
and  marry  the  Hindoos,  to  North  America  and 
marr}^  the  Indians,  to  New  Zealand  and  marry 
the  Maoris,  to  the  black  islands  and  marry  the 
Negros.  Every  place  I  have  ever  been  on  the 
broad  earth  I  find  Englishmen  married  to 
native  women  of  another  color.  Do  not  under- 
stand me  to  reprobate  it.    I  believe  the  inhabi- 


134  The  Chinese  Question. 

tants  of  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  for  what- 
ever cause,  to  be  the  best  racial  stock  now  on 
earth,  and  that  all  inferior  races,  and  there  are 
inferior  races,  are  greatly  benefited  by  its  in- 
fusion, whether  accompanied  or  not  by  the 
priest 's  blessing.  The  blood  question  is  merely 
a  childish  subterfuge. 

I  will  not  speak  of  the  Hindoos,  because  I  do 
not  yet  know  that  people  except  as  I  have  seen 
them  in  the  Fiji  Islands  and  British  Columbia. 
I  will  express  it  as  my  sincere  conviction 
that  twenty  millions  of  Chinamen  living  on  the 
continent  would  put  Australia  in  the  rank 
where  she  really  belongs.  If  there  be  any  man 
or  woman  on  the  place  that  would  not  be  bene- 
fited, then  God  help  them;  they  are  beyond 
human  amelioration.  Five  millions  more 
Britons  would  soon  follow  them  to  share  in 
their  pickings.  Taking  part  at  first  in  the 
most  unskilled  labors  and  menial  offices  it 
would  increase  to  an  enormous  degree  the  de- 
mand for  expert  skilled  labor.  With  more 
trains  to  run  it  would  necessitate  more  engi- 
neers, more  conductors,  more  employees  of  all 
kinds  from  repair  men  to  book  keepers.  It 
would  mean  more  street  cars,  and  conse- 
quently more  conductors  and  motormen,  and 


The  Chinese  Question.  135 

more  electricians.  It  would  mean  more  law- 
yers, more  doctors,  more  preachers,  more 
actors,  more  saloon  keepers,  more  gamblers, 
more  thieves.  It  w^ould  mean  more  police, 
more  bailiffs,  more  clerks,  more  judges.  It 
would  mean  a  large  army  of  employees  to  levy, 
collect  and  keep  track  of  the  taxes  to  pay  off 
the  preceding.  Then  it  would  take  a  smaller 
army  to  levy  and  collect  the  taxes  to  pay  the 
preceding  army  of  tax  levyers  and  collectors, 
then  a  smaller  army  to  levy  and  collect  the 
taxes  to  pay  the  preceding,  then  a  smaller 
army  to  levy  and  collect  the  taxes  to  pay  the 
preceding,  then  a  smaller  army  to  levy  and  col- 
lect the  taxes  to  pay  the  preceding,  and  so  on 
to  the  end  of  this  book.  And  then  it  would 
give  an  excuse  for  a  standing  army  to  parade 
around  with  dashing  officers,  and  a  navy  very 
ornamental  with  officers  to  make  love  to  the 
ladies.  The  maid  who  now  cleans  your  room 
would  then  wear  her  furs  and  diamonds  as  the 
wife  of  some  fat  office  holder,  and  scold  the 
Chinese  houseman  and  the  Chinese  cook,  i^d 
then  they  would  get  better  cooking.  And  then 
if  there  were  any  Englishmen  so  worthless  as 
to  be  made  no  use  of  at  all  they  could  do  as  we 
do  in  the  United  States — put  him  on  the  pay- 


136  The  Chinese  Question. 

roll  on  general  principles;  and  the  Chink 
would  dig  and  grub  and  pay  for  it  all.  I  think 
we  could  conservatively  estimate  that  every 
five  Chinese  men  could  support  one  English- 
man in  ease  and  luxury. 

Land  which  now  finds  no  sale  at  $5.00  per 
acre  would  then  be  in  demand  at  ten  times  that 
price. 

There  is  another  aspect  to  this  question. 
Australia  is  now  more  fully  awake  to  this  mat- 
ter than  either  England  or  the  United  States. 
I  refer  to  what  is  popularly  known  as  the 
Yellow  Peril,  although  neither  the  Japanese 
or  Hindoos  are  yellow.  I  have  been  knocking 
a^:*ound  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  its  shores  in 
many  trips  extending  over  nearly  twenty 
years,  and  as  many  friends  will  testify,  have 
been  fortelling  conditions  to  arise  ever  since 
the  night  the  Russian  warships  were  blown  up 
in  the  harbor  at  Port  Arthur.  We  are  now 
face  to  face  with  the  most  momentous  period 
since  Mahomet  preached  his  jehad  on  the 
deserts  of  Arabia.  It  may  be  averted  by  skill- 
ful management,  but  I  have  great  fear  that 
within  twenty  years  we  will  see  the  Japanese, 
Chinese,  Hindoos  and  probably  the  Philip- 
pines arrayed  in  battle  against  the  whites  with 


The  Chinese  Question.  137 

the  cry:  *'Asia  for  the  Asiatics".  When  it 
does  occur,  woe  to  the  whites.  It  will  take  a 
great  deal  of  blood  to  wash  out  the  insults  and 
contumely  of  four  hundred  years.  It  may  up- 
turn our  present  social  fabric  as  completely  as 
did  the  eruption  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals  in 
the  latter  period  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
start  everything  anew.  What  would  the 
language  and  institutions  of  England  be  at 
present  with  the  continued  predominance  of 
Roman  ideas  From  their  standpoint  they 
have  a  just  cause,  a  great  prize  to  work  for — 
the  Christian  example  and  the  incentive  of 
loot  which  throughout  all  the  ages  has  been  an 
armj^'s  strongest  impulse.  It  is  so  sweet  to 
reap  where  another  has  sown.  I  feel  that  if  I 
were  a  Chinaman  I  should  work  steadily  with 
that  object  in  view,  knowing  myself  to  be 
justified.  I  know  the  Japanese  are  so  doing. 
When  in  Alaska  I  was  told  by  missionaries 
that  the  Japanese  working  in  the  salmon 
canneries  there  are  telling  the  Indians  that  in  a 
few  years  they  will  be  owning  Alaska.  I  be- 
lieve that  today  they  could  pick  up  that  terri- 
tory, the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  the  Philip- 
pines as  easily  as  taking  candy  from  a  baby. 
For  that  reason  I  believe  everv  able  bodied 


138  The  Chinese  Question. 

young  American  should  be  compelled  to  give 
one  year's  service  in  camp  and  military  train- 
ing. Our  whole  history  proves  that  the  first 
thing  a  militia  does  when  facing  an  enemy  is 
to  turn  and  run.  They  have  never  been  able 
to  fight  even  Indians,  as  Crawford's,  Harner's, 
St.  Clair's  and  many  other  campaigns  have 
shown.  I  believe  that  without  extended  notice 
and  time  for  preparation  on  our  part  a  hun 
dred  thousand  Germans  or  Japanese  could 
march  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco.  Such 
time  for  preparation  will  not  be  given  in  the 
next  great  war.  The  United  States  are  now  in 
the  placid  fatuous  condition  that  Persia  was  in 
when  Alexander  with  30,000  Greeks  over-ran 
the  country  and  subverted  the  monarchy. 

If  these  things  be  even  approximately  true 
with  reference  to  our  country  with  its  ninety- 
five  millions,  and  I  believe  them  to  be  wholly 
true,  what  may  be  the  state  of  Australia  facing 
India  and  China  with  less  than  five  millions'? 
They  are  fully  alive  -to  their  peril.  One  of  their 
public  speakers  while  I  was  there  said  in  a 
public  speech  that  Australia  was  the  weakest 
spot  in  the  empire.  An  editorial  said  that 
Australia  was  now  in  greater  danger  than  at 
any  time  in  her  history.    Another  speaker  that 


The  Chinese  Question.  139 

Mr.  Roosevelt  did  Australia  the  greatest  pos- 
sible injury  that  could  be  done  to  her  in  calling 
the  Portsmouth  conference.  My  views  on 
those  subjects,  which  at  first  met  so  much 
derision  in  Chicago,  met  with  complete  acqui- 
escence in  that  country.  They  are  even  pre- 
paring for  the  event.  They  are  trying  to  enroll 
every  young  man  of  fighting  age,  and  every 
evening  in  the  parks  one  sees  them  drilling 
until  a  late  hour.  It  is  almost  like  our  country 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  war. 

How  can  there  be  any  difference  of  opinion 
among  sensible  men  on  this  subject?  There  is 
China  with  her  swarming,  congested  four 
hundred  millions  of  people  living  like  animals 
who  only  ask  a  chance  for  a  little  land  ui3on 
which  to  earn  bread  and  roof,  with  no  door 
open  to  them  but  Mexico  and  a  few  French 
islands.  Over  there  lies  Australia  with  room 
for  four  hundred  millions  more,  with  millions 
of  square  miles  lying  idle  and  they  kept  out. 
It  is  contrary  to  the  eternal  laws  of  nature. 
While  I  might  sympathize  with  the  Aus- 
tralians for  blood  reasons,  still  in  case  of  their 
conquest  I  could  only  say:  "You  got  what  you 
deserved." 

Japan  would  take  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 


140  The  Chinese  Question, 

Alaska,  the  Philippines,  and  probably  some  of 
the  other  Dutch  or  English  islands;  India 
would  be  given  her  independence,  and  China 
offered  as  her  reward  for  participating,  Hong 
Kong,  Cochin  China  and  Australia.  Germany, 
probabty  a  participant,  would  take  Africa  and 
the  whole  of  Papua.  England  would  not  have 
a  friend  outside  of  the  United  States  and  de- 
crepit Prance.  We  will  probably  get  our  dose 
first  and  fight  our  battles  alone. 

"How  in  the  name  of  goodness  then  will 
twenty  millions  of  Chinese  strengthen  Aus- 
talia?"  I  am  asked.  Anything  that  tends  to 
relieve  the  pressure  in  China  tends  to  prolong 
the  day  of  reckoning.  So  long  as  they  can  go 
into  a  country  freely  there  will  be  the  less 
inclination  to  fight  for  entrance.  No  German 
or  Scandinavian  ever  had  to  fight  to  enter  our 
country.  They  had  to  fight,  and  did  fight  suc- 
cessfully, to  enter  England,  France  and  Italy. 
Steam  allowed  to  escape  in  the  proper  manner 
is  a  beneficent  agent,  confined  is  a  destructive 
explosive.  All  revolutionists  have  felt  what  a 
power  the  army  and  the  administration  has  as 
against  mere  numbers.  Neither  Russia  nor 
Spain  can  become  a  rei^ublic  until  the  army  is 
reduced.  Australia  with  ten  millions  of  whites 


The  Chinese  Question.  141 

organized,  and  her  probable  half  million  of 
men  ready  for  the  field,  with  twenty  millions 
of  Chinese  for  forced  work  and  to  pay  the 
costs  by  their  taxes,  to  furnish  the  sinews  of 
Avar  in  fact,  could  put  up  a  successful  fight  on 
interior  lines  against  any  army  coming  several 
thousand  miles.  We  all  know  how  much  the 
slaves  aided  the  South  in  continuing  the  strug- 
gle during  our  Civil  war.  Such  a  civilian  work- 
ing force  would  probably  allow  the  whites  to 
put  over  a  million  and  a  half  fighting  men  into 
the  field. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  ties  of  religion  are 
stronger  than  the  ties  of  blood.  The  French 
Hugenots  were  ready  to  assist  foreigners  fight 
against  their  own  people;  so  in  Germany  and 
the  low  countries  during  the  Thirty  Years 
war.  If  the  Christianized  Chinese  had  not  as- 
sisted the  legations  in  the  Peking  siege  the 
story  might  have  ended  very  differently.  And 
the  matter  of  rearing  and  education  is  very 
powerful.  Northern  people  living  in  the  South 
with  few  exceptions  took  part  in  our  Civil  war 
with  their  neighbors. 

Cardinal  Richelieu  used  to  say  that  if  j^ou 
wanted  to  make  a  man  become  a  dog  treat  him 
like  a  dog.    Conversely,  if  you  want  to  make 


142  The  Chinese  Question. 

a  man  out  of  a  Chinaman  treat  him  like  a  man. 
The  best  manner  to  secure  the  physical  safety 
of  Australia  is  to  anglicize  the  Chinaman. 
Take  them  from  their  cradles,  educate  them  as 
they  do  in  Hawaii;  let  the  native  born  vote  and 
hold  positions  as  other  native  born  sons.  It 
would  be  found  that  the  love  of  the  country 
where  their  ej^es  first  opened,  and  where  their 
infant  years  were  passed,  would  predominate 
over  every  feeling  whatever.  Their  whole 
affections,  sympathies  and  efforts  would  work 
to  maintain  the  statu  quo.  They  would  fear 
the  establishment  of  an  Asiatic  power  with  as 
great  an  abhorrence  as  we  now  would  the 
supremacy  of  a  European  monarch.  Still  more 
would  the  thousands  who  were  Christianized 
from  birth  or  who  might  claim  the  united 
blood.  We  of  colonial  descent  in  the  United 
States  know  what  that  feeling  means.  When 
I  was  a  boy  books  were  scarce  and  those 
largely  tales  of  accounts  of  our  Revolutionary 
war  or  our  War  of  1812.  I  well  remember 
reading  and  rereading  them,  and  listening  dur- 
ing the  long  winter  evenings  to  the  stories  told 
by  our  elders  of  those  wars  when  they  were 
still  recent  events,  and  particularly  of  the 
border  Indian  wars  when  those  savages,  even 


The  Chinese  Question.  143 

against  their  will,  were  incited  and  compelled 
by  the  English  to  war  against  the  colonists, 
their  own  flesh  and  blood,  of  the  atrocities 
committed  by  them  against  helpless  women 
and  children;  how  even  after  the  treaty  of 
peace  they  Avere  still  urged  on  by  a  defeated 
foe  to  keep  up  an  endless  struggle,  giving 
every  year  new  and  sufficient  causes  for  war 
until  it  culminated  anew  in  open  war;  and  I 
remember  how  my  cheeks  would  bum  with  in- 
dignation and  a  desire  when  grown  up  to  par- 
ticipate in  a  war  against  that  country.  And 
yet  I  felt  no  hatred  for  any  single  Englishman 
such  as  constantly  come  into  our  country,  only 
for  that  indefinite  existence  known  as  the 
England.  This  kept  up  over  our  whole  country 
until  the  memories  of  those  events  were 
drowned  by  the  tremendous  events  of  our 
great  civil  struggle.  With  me  they  remained 
until,  a  grown  man,  I  visited  many  colonies 
ruled  by  England  and  saw  the  really  excellent 
work  done  in  all  of  them.  On  the  other  hand 
England  has  never  repeated  that  error.  She 
did  not  attempt  it  in  South  Africa. 

If  Australia  some  day  doesn't  equally  rue 
her  policy  in  excluding  all  other  races  I  shall 
be  greatly  mistaken.  Her  policy  in  this  re- 
spect, no  less  than  her  policy  of  state  owner- 
ship, is  equally  a  mortal  disease. 


144  New  Zealand. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

New  Zealand. 

The  two  islands  with  Chatham  Island  con- 
stituting the  country  of  New  Zealand  (a  very 
poor  name)  lie  between  341/2  and  47  degrees 
of  south  latitude,  or  say  from  Wilmington,  N. 
C,  to  Lake  Superior.  The  climate,  however, 
is  much  more  equable  than  that  between  the 
same  degrees  of  our  country.  It  is  cooler  in 
summer  and  warmer  in  winter.  Tree  ferns 
grow  larger  than  I  had  ever  seen  them  before 
in  the  open.  Palms,  rubber  trees,  orange  and 
lemon  trees  live  as  far  south  as  Auckland.  For 
some  reason,  however,  neither  oranges  nor 
lemons  are  grown,  all  seen  coming  from  Cali- 
fornia. As  this,  however,  proves  true  of  other 
fruits,  such  as  grapes,  etc.,  I  shall  think  it  may 
be  attributed  to  disinclination  to  cultivate 
them  on  state  owned  ground.    I  found  winter 


New  Zealand.  145 

clothing,  a  heavy  cap  and  an  overcoat  neces- 
sary at  Wellington  in  February,  answering  to 
our  August.  I  noticed  everybody  going  simi- 
larly clad.  In  fact  at  times  a  fire  would  have 
been  comfortable.  It  is  geologically  a  true 
continent,  having  all  the  characteristics  and 
formations  of  such  an  independent  existence. 
Scientific  men  of  Australia  say  it  formerly 
constituted  a  part  of  that  continent.  I  did  not 
read  their  reasons  as  their  geological  reports, 
so  far  as  furnished  me,  did  not  treat  of  that 
phase,  but  to  me  it  looked  as  distinct  from 
Australia  as  Cuba  is  from  Florida.  If  ever 
connected  it  must  have  been  prior  to  the  ad- 
vent of  warm  blooded  animals,  as  no  four- 
footed  beasts  at  all,  unless  we  except  the  rat, 
were  found  in  New  Zealand,  while,  as  formerly 
stated,  Australia  is  wonderfully  rich  in  mam- 
mals. Practically  all  the  clays  and  building 
stones  are  found,  while  coal,  iron,  gold  and 
some  gem  stones  are  abundant,  notably  the 
famed  jade,  or  more  correctly  speaking, 
nephrite,  which  they  wrongly  term  green 
stone.  In  fertility  of  soil  and  abundance  of 
timber  adapted  to  building  material  it  far  sur- 
passes Australia.  In  beauty  of  scenery  it 
possibly  may  be  compared  with  Central  Amer- 


146  New  Zealand. 

ica,  but  taken  as  a  whole  I  know  of  no  other 
country  that  may  rank  with  it.  One  of  its 
rivers  may  even  excel  the  Hudson  or  Rhine  in 
grandeur.  It  is  the  paradise  of  the  sheep.  I 
noticed  that  there  they  wander  in  couples  or 
solitary,  owing  to  their  having  lost  the  sense 
of  fear  from  the  total  absence  of  their  natural 
enemies.  In  most  countries,  particularly  in 
our  continent,  they  flock  together  from  a  sense 
of  insecurity. 

The  soil  seems  to  be  of  incredible  fertility. 
Statistics  that  they  furnish  us  of  the  yield  in 
wheat  and  oats  per  acre  beat  any  record  we 
have  ever  esablished  in  Illinois.  Ditches  dug 
along  the  railroads  for  drainage  proved  the 
soil  to  be  black  and  waxy  down  to  four  or  five 
feet  in  depth.  The  fruit  trees  I  saw  seemed 
to  be  heavily  loaded,  so  that  the  scarcity  and 
very  high  price  of  f-ruit  seemed  to  depend  upon 
the  little  attention  given  to  its  cultivation 
rather  than  any  natural  reason.  Upon  the 
whole  I  can  coincide  with  the  general  impres- 
sion when  I  say  that  natiu'e  has  done  for  New 
Zealand  all  that  it  can  do  for  any  country  on 
this  material  sphere.  The  superiority  of  the 
Maoris,  its  original  race,  over  that  of  any  other 
South    Sea   j)eople   incontestibly   proves   its 


New  Zealand.  147 

natural  adaption  as  a  home  for  the  human 
animal. 

The  sea  is  as  generous  to  our  race  as  the 
land.  The  surrounding  waters  swarm  with 
fish  of  many  kinds.  I  am  not  a  fisherman,  but 
a  friend  that  is,  who  tried  his  luck  on  the  in- 
terior fresh  waters,  told  me  fish  were  too 
abundant  to  furnish  sport. 

Considering  its  favorable  position,  its  fer- 
tile soil,  its  abundance  of  resources  in  timber 
and  the  products  of  the  mines,  its  climate  and 
abundance  of  land,  we  have  a  right  to  say  that 
the  British  race  there  ma}^  be  held  to  a  strict 
accountability.  That  if  they  are  ruining  the 
country  for  all  time  they  should  be  held  up  to 
all  the  world  for  reprobation,  and  if  they  are 
lagging  behind  the  thirsty  desert  known  as 
Mexico,  with  its  ten  millions  of  full-blooded 
Indians,  they  may  plead  no  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances; nor  can  they  say  that  I,  who  have 
always  spoken  so  highly  of  British  Columbia, 
am  a  prejudiced  observer.  If  the  latter  coun- 
try, also  mostly  British,  forges  ahead  of  them 
with  startling  rapidity  it  cannot  be  otherwise 
than  in  the  people  themselves.  Either  I  am 
lying  or  the  British  race  has  lost  its  vigor  or 
the  institutions  of  New  Zealand  are   wrong. 


148  New  Zealand. 

The  shortest  way  out  of  it  for  a  Briton  would 
be  to  say  I  am  lying. 

I  will  admit  my  ideas  of  the  country,  formed 
from  previous  reading,  may  have  been  unduly 
exalted.  We  have  been  taught  by  our  social- 
istic writers  that  of  all  the  countries  in  the 
world  in  beauty,  fertility,  climate,  productions, 
and  the  advanced  nature  of  its  institutions,  it 
was  in  the  lead.  I  never  saw  a  reference  to  it 
in  a  newspaper  or  a  magazine  where  it  was  not 
held  up  to  us  as  an  example  or  a  model  to  fol- 
low. Since  a  young  man  I  had  always  thought 
that  if  fate  made  it  desirable  for  me  to  leave 
my  native  land  and  sink  my  past.  New  Zea- 
land is  where  I  would  go.  The  present  trip 
found  me  going  neither  as  an  emigrant  nor 
with  the  object  of  either  praising  or  finding 
fault  with  its  institutions,  or  with  the  object 
in  fact  of  writing  about  them  at  all.  I  am  not 
a  student  of  sociology.  This  is  a  new  role  and 
was,  I  might  say,  thrust  upon  me.  I  found 
upon  landing  my  impressions  half  met  and 
half  disappointed.  The  country  is  all  my 
dreams  had  pictured  it ;  in  every  other  respect 
I  found  it  the  least  desirable  country  I  had 
ever  seen  lying  between  Eastern  Asia  and 
Europe.    I  had  thought  that  if  I  ever  looted  a 


New  Zealand.  149 

bank  of  six  or  seven  millions  of  dollars  I  would 
hide  myself  in  New  Zealand.  As  the  result  of 
my  inquiries  there  I  have  concluded  not  to  loot 
a  bank  of  six  or  seven  millions  of  dollars  and 
stay  in  God's  country. 

I  landed  in  Wellington,  the  capital  of  the 
commonwealth,  about  noon.  By  evening  I 
found  myself  living  in  the  second  hotel  in  rank 
of  the  town,  a  place  of  such  unparalleled  bad- 
ness that  I  wondered  why  it  was  kept  open  at 
all.  Nowhere,  even  in  Africa,  had  I  found  one 
so  bad  except  in  the  native  caravansaries.  I 
had  yet  to  learn  that  in  all  New  Zealand  there 
was  no  hotel,  only  boarding  houses,  and  those 
with  one  or  two  exceptions  execrable.  Before 
evening  I  had  remarked  that  unless  I  was 
greatly  mistaken  there  was  a  general  slump. 
Instead  of  the  vivid  and  noticeable  prosperity 
I  had  anticipated,  there  was  the  depressed, 
stagnant  air  so  familiar  at  times  in  the  United 
States  towns  where  every  countenance  seemed 
to  say  '*The  boom  has  burst''.  While  the  pub- 
lic buildings  were  fair  the  whole  town  as  well 
as  the  people  looked  shabby.  The  whole  town 
seemed  to  need  paint  and  something  else  in- 
describable. Not  a  well-dressed  man  or  woman 
did  I  see  on  the  streets.    They  all  had  a  hope- 


150  New  Zealand. 

less,  discouraged  look.  This  preceded  in  time 
my  visit  to  Australia,  but  in  comparison  even 
Australia  seemed  immeasurably  bright  and 
advanced  after  leaving  New  Zealand.  Outside 
of  my  pet  hobby,  there  was  nothing  else  to  do 
but  study  sociology.  As  well  may  one  live  in 
Florence  and  not  absorb  art  as  to  live  there 
and  not  thresh  over  experiments  in  robbing 
one  man  by  means  of  law  for  the  benefit  of 
another.  It  is  not  in  the  nature  of  an  English- 
man to  be  robbed  of  his  fortune,  his  business, 
or  even  a  shilling,  without  a  protest.  In  New 
Zealand  he  squeals  like  a  pig  going  to 
slaughter,  but  his  squeal  is  as  futile.  The 
visitor  hears  it  on  all  sides,  however;  in  fact  it 
drowns  all  other  sounds.  Aside  from  sport, 
nothing  else  is  talked  about  but  state  owner- 
ship. 

First  I  learned  that  with  a  capacity  for  a 
population  of  over  forty  millions  of  people  the 
commonwealth  had  only  about  one  million, 
that  in  the  previous  ten  years  the  population 
had  increased  by  all  ways,  whether  by  birth  or 
immigration,  less  than  one  hundred  thousand, 
that  in  two  of  those  years  there  were  more  de- 
partures of  emigrants  seeking  to  better  their 
lot  than  of  immigrants  entering  to  throw  in 


New  Zealand.  151 

their  aid  to  the  new  fertile  country.  On  every 
side  arose  the  wail  of  thousands  out  of  emploj^- 
ment,  of  decadent  and  languishing  industries. 
Only  the  sheep  business  seemed  to  thrive — 
that  and  office  holding.  For  instance,  the 
painters'  union  of  Wellington  in  their  annual 
meeting  reported  most  of  their  men  as  idle, 
that  many  of  them  had  gone  to  Australia  or 
the  United  States  in  search  of  work,  that  only 
lack  of  means  kept  others  from  leaving,  etc.; 
and  yet  it  seemed  to  me  that  every  house  in 
Wellington  needed  a  new  coat  of  paint,  the 
town  being  almost  wholly  built  of  frame.  The 
commonwealth  was  talking  of  launching  a  new 
loan  in  London,  although  the  debt  per  capita 
was  already  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
country  in  the  world,  not  even  excepting  won- 
derfully rich  France.  I  went  over  their  year 
book  carefully,  but  thought  it  was  not  worth 
$2.00  to  me,  or  I  could  give  the  figures  to  prove 
this,  but  it  cannot  be  contested. 

My  first  impression  was  one  of  surprise  that 
no  street  cars  ran  to  the  Queens  Wharf  where 
all  the  great  liners  landed,  upon  which  fronted 
the  post  office.  From  the  appended  clipping 
from  a  Wellington  dailj^  I  see  it  is  contem- 
plated : 


152  New  Zealand. 

EXPENSIVE  TRAMWAY  EXTENSION. 


Sir, — I  am  surprised  to  see  that  the  estimated  cost 
of  extending  the  tramway  from  the  Bank  of  New  Zea- 
land corner  to  the  Post  Office  is  £6000.  This  is  an 
enormous  cost  for  the  very  short  piece  of  work  to  be 
done.  I  thoroughly  believe  the  work  could  be  done 
for  a  quarter  of  this  money  by  any  contracting  firm 
in  this  city,  and  as  a  ratepayer  I  protest  against  the 
squandering  of  public  money  by  the  City  Council. 
The  public  works  which  have  recently  been  carried 
out  would  not  have  cost  half  as  much  money  had 
they  been  done  by  contract,  notably  Anderson's  Park 
and  Duppa  Street  Park.  These  two  works  are  glaring 
instances  of  money  being  squandered.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  the  ratepayers  of  Wellington  have  to  suffer,  and 
that  people  have  to  pay  high  rents.  Owners  of  pro- 
perty are  weighed  down  with  an  enormous  burden, 
principally  due  to  mismanagement.  The  City  Council- 
lors seem  to  pat  each  other  on  the  back  and  stand  idly 
by  to  see  the  people's  money  thrown  away. 

Another  grievance  of  the  ratepayers  and  property 
owners  is  that  the  majority  of  the  staff  employed  by 
the  City  Council  are  impolite  when  applied  to  for  any 
information  or  details  on  public  business. — I  am,  etc., 

ANTI-SQUANDERER. 

Wellington,  January  21. 

While  there  one  of  the  daily  papers  in  a  long 
article  on  some  political  question  not  particu- 
larly germane  to  this  book,  referred  casually 
to  the  fact  that  the  previous  year  nearly  18,000 
workers  had  left  New  Zealand  for  Australia; 
I  presume  it  to  be  true,  but  the  authority  was 
not  given.    I  know  of  no  better  way  to  demon- 


New  Zealand.  153 

strate  the  truth  of  all  written  above  than  to 
call  upon  themselves  as  witnesses.  I  append 
the  following  item  taken  from  a  Wellington 
daily  paper: 

A  RECORD  OF  "GOD'S  OWN  COUNTRY. 

The  glowing  accounts  regarding  "God's  Own  Coun- 
try" which  are  circulated  at  Home  induced  a  certain 
schoolmistress  to  make  her  way  to  New  Zealand  about 
four  years  ago,  but,  now,  finding  that  it  is  not  the 
Paradise  she  imagined  it  to  be  her  soul  is  full  of 
indignation. 

At  the  Magistrate's  Court,  Christ  church,  she  was 
sued  for  two  installments  on  a  phonograph,  interest, 
broken  records,  etc.,  amounting  to  £3  9s.  lid.  She 
did  not  appear,  but  sent  the  following  note  to  the 
Clerk  of  the  Court: — 

"I  hired  the  machine  thinking  it  would  be  a  benefit 
to  the  country  children  in  training  the  ear,  as  they 
have  little  opportunity  of  hearing  good  music,  and  I 
am  expected  to  teach  music  in  the  school.  The  com- 
mittee objected,  however,  and  as  I  found  I  could  not 
keep  the  hire  going  when  the  school  did  not  reach  the 
standard  I  had  expected,  I  thought  the  most  honorable 
thing  to  do  was  to  send  it  back.  It  was  very  little 
used. 

"Since  coming  to  New  Zealand  about  four  years 
ago  we  have  on  four  different  occasions  tried  to  settle 
in  a  place,  but  as  no  work  could  be  had  we  were 
compelled  to  sell  our  belongings  in  order  to  get  a 
little  food  to  enable  us  to  exist.  No  other  word  could 
be  used,  as  it  was  merely  'existing,'  it  wasn't  living, 
and  as  a  result  my  husband's  health  suffered.  I  ob- 
tained my  present  employment  a  year  ago.  It  is  value 
for  £108  per  annum,  and  I  have  six  children  to  feed 


154  New  Zealand. 

and  clothe.  I  cannot  expect  to  overtake  my  debts  in 
less  than  another  year, 

"All  I  can  say  is  that  New  Zealand  is  not  a  country 
for  strangers,  either  educated  or  uneducated,  as  our 
circumstances  go  to  prove.  We  have  had  to  exist  for 
four  years  on  less  than  two  years'  work,  and  that  at  a 
very  low  rate  of  pay.  At  present  anyone  coming  to 
examine  my  enforced  manner  of  living  and  think  that 
I  am  a  school  teacher  would  find  the  position  a  bit 
ludicrous,  as  I  have  barely  necessaries.  However,  the 
old  maxim  still  holds  good,  'Once  a  lady,  always  a 
lady.' 

"In  the  Old  Country  my  husband  could  keep  his 
family,  and  there  was  no  need  for  me  to  work,  and 
our  name  never  had  occasion  to  be  made  public  for 
debt  or  anything  else,  but  in  'God's  Own  Country'  I 
have  had  to  turn  to,  and  all  I  can  say  is  that  I  am 
thankful  my  constitution  has  not  suffered  as  much 
from  the  'existing'  as  others  of  my  family.  We  could 
pay  all  our  passages  to  New  Zealand,  and  we  had  five 
children  ranging  from  six  months  to  eight  years.  We 
were  not  assisted  in  any  way  either  to  come  to  New 
Zealand  or  since  we  arrived,  and  if  I  had  my  passage 
money  again  I  would  inquire  what  kind  of  country 
it  was  before  I  would  believe  all  the  reports  sent 
Home  to  the  newspapers.  It  is  a  crying  shame 
to  bring  families  to  a  country  like  this  to  starve 
them.  Many  a  colony  would  only  be  too  pleased  to 
have  a  family  to  increase  the  population,  and  would 
see  to  it  that  the  father  would  get  work  at  his  profes- 
sion to  keep  them  in  food  and  clothes.  We  had  our 
eyes  open  as  we  passed  through  the  Australian  cities — 
Adelaide,  Melbourne,  and  Sydney — and  we  believe  that 
if  we  could  get  back  to  either  one  of  these  cities  we 
would  get  on  all  right.  It  seems  to  me  there  is  nothing 
in  New  Zealand  but  boycott.  I  am  always  willing  to 
pay  when  I  have  the  means." 


New  Zealand.  155 

The  letter  caused  a  great  deal  of  amusement  in 
Court  (states  the  "Evening  News"),  and  as  Mr.  Mos- 
ley,  who  appeared  for  plaintiff,  could  not  produce  an 
agreement  to  pay  interest,  the  case  was  adjourned  for 
a  week. 

Also  following  editorials  from  the  New  Zea- 
land Herald  of  February  4  and  10,  1910: 

IMPERIAL  MIGRATION. 


The  practical  cessation  of  the  great  stream  of  British 
migration,  of  a  most  desirable  character,  which  poured 
from  the  United  Kingdom  to  Australasia  during  the 
middle  period  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  makes  of 
supreme  interest  any  proposals,  such  as  those  discussed 
at  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts,  which  have  in  view  the 
renewal  of  Imperial  migration  upon  a  large  scale. 
Taking  New  Zealand  as  a  type  of  the  outlying  States 
of  the  Empire,  any  thoughtful  person  must  be  im- 
pressed by  the  vivid  contrast  between  the  migrations 
to  this  country  forty  and  fifty  years  ago  and  now.  In 
those  days,  men  and  women  were  not  afraid  to  leave 
comfortable  homes  and  secured  positions  in  the 
Motherland  and  to  adventure  in  small  sailing  ships  to 
the  furthest  ends  of  the  earth,  there  to  settle  in  the 
face  of  hostile  tribes  and  every  conceivable  hardship. 
They  were  frequently  six  months  afloat,  in  days  when 
there  were  neither  tinned  meats  nor  refrigerators,  nor 
any  of  the  common  comforts  and  universal  luxuries  of 
the  sea-travel  of  modern  times.  They  landed  in  an 
undeveloped  country,  where  the  very  coast  settlements 
were  struggling,  and  went  back  into  the  roadless  bush 
to  wage  a  desperate  battle  for  bare  existence  in  the 
confident  hope  of  winning-out  to  future  prosperity. 
These  immigrants  built  New  Zealand,  as  their  brothers 
and  sisters  built  the  new  Australian  States  which  grad- 


156  New  Zealand. 

ually  broke  away  from  the  parent  colony  of  New 
South  Wales,  and  as  their  uncles  and  aunts  had  built 
up  Ontario  before  them.  Today,  the  long  ocean  pas- 
sage has  become  a  pleasant  ferryage,  served  by  huge 
steamers  equipped  with  every  modern  device,  them- 
selves veritable  floating  cities,  in  which  every  comfort 
is  available  and  every  care  lifted  from  the  shoulders 
of  passengers.  That  ocean-trips  are  taken,  in  every 
class,  for  recreation  and  pleasure,  is  sufficient  proof 
that  to  the  vast  majority  of  people  ocean-travel  has 
now  neither  hardship  nor  terror.  More  than  this, 
colonial  life  has  so  developed  that  the  many  difficulties 
still  to  be  encountered  are  but  the  shadow  of  the 
difficulties  once  so  fearlessly  faced.  The  Maori  no 
longer  fortifies  his  pas  against  the  King's  troops  and 
comes  raiding  down  against  the  frontier  settler.  We 
have  schools  in  every  corner  of  the  land,  some  sort  of 
road  is  being  made  wherever  there  is  settlement,  and 
in  the  South  Island,  at  least  there  are  more  railways 
than  the  Government  quite  knows  what  to  do  with. 
Yet  we  have  no  great  stream  of  immigration.  Doubt- 
less this  is  largely  due  to  our  absurd  land  laws,  but 
the  Australian  States  have  also  no  great  streams  of 
immigration — as  they  had  in  the  golden  days  of  the 
'50's,  the  '60's,  the  '70's  and  even  the  '80's.  And  all 
the  time,  in  the  United  Kingdom,  there  are  surplus 
multitudes  who  have  no  work,  as  well  as  millions  who 
might  be  supposed  to  grasp  with  avidity  the  manifold 
opportunities  offered  by  our  population-lacking  lands. 
The  proposal  made  at  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  was 
that  the  municipal  and  urban  authorities  of  the  United 
Kingdom  should  take  migration  in  hand  and  direct 
their  surplus  peoples  to  definite  areas  acquired  in  the 
overseas  dominions,  with  the  aim  not  merely  of  afford- 
ing outlet  to  surplus  populations,  but  of  "creating  new 
sources  of  industry  and  revenue."  We  need  not  dis- 
cuss the  details  of  any  vague  migration  scheme,  for 


New  Zealand.  157 

in  the  nature  of  things  details  are  always  winnowed 
and  revised  under  practical  discussion.  But  the  gen- 
eral conception  that  the  unoccupied  lands  of  the  over- 
seas dominions  should  be  systematically  opened  to  the 
unemployed  people  of  the  Mother  Country  is  abso- 
lutely sound.  The  vast  lands  of  the  great  overseas 
dominions  were  certainly  never  given  to  a  mere  hand- 
ful of  British  settlers  to  be  used  or  locked  up  at  their 
sweet  will  and  pleasure.  New  Zealand  belongs  to  the 
New  Zealanders,  as  Australia  to  the  Australians,  and 
Canada  to  the  Canadians,  only  in  trust.  It  is  patriotic 
policy  to  hold  these  British  lands  against  the  Asiatic — 
whether  Chinese,  Japanese,  or  Hindo — but  it  is  an 
unpatriotic  and  untenable  policy  to  hold  these  British 
lands  against  the  British.  Admittedly,  there  is  no  un- 
qualified attempt  to  exclude  our  countrymen ;  but 
equally  admittedly,  there  has  been  an  inclination  in 
Australasia  to  belittle  the  right  of  the  British  im- 
migrant to  join  our  community  and  to  take  up  land 
under  our  guardianship.  This  period  of  discourage- 
ment of  migration  may  be  at  an  end,  for  the  question 
is  now  attracting  an  immense  amount  of  attention  and 
receiving  a  great  deal  of  sympathy.  Every  public  man 
in  the  British  dominions  will  agree  that  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  for  all  parties  if  suitable  transferences  of 
population  could  be  made  from  the  Mother  Country 
to  his  particular  state,  and  he  will  also  declare  himself 
strongly  in  favor  of  this.  But  great  migrations  cannot 
be  arranged  by  mere  words  or  satisfactorily  set  going 
by  empty  good-will.  Particularly  is  this  so  of  the 
migrations  of  to-day,  after  two  generations  of  civilized 
living  have  apparently  softened  the  fibre  of  the  peoples 
from  whom  came  the  Nineteenth  Century  pioneers  of 
Nev^  Zealand,  Canada,  Australia,  and  Natal.  The 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway  Company  is  recognizing  this 
in  its  great  scheme  for  building  a  house  and  for  fencing, 
ploughing,  and  sowing  the  land  before  inviting  settle- 


158  New  Zealand. 

ment  on  one  of  its  prairie  farms.  This  sound  scheme 
of  offering  the  immigrant  somewhere  to  go,  where  he 
can  step  into  a  new  home  and  go  to  work  on  land 
already  prepared  for  his  coming,  will  probably  have  to 
be  followed,  wholly  or  in  part,  by  any  country  seeking 
to  encourage  immigration  today.  If  British  authorities 
and  colonial  Governments  would  co-operate  in  this 
direction,  upon  lines  acceptable  to  both,  because  assist- 
ing both  to  overcome  their  opposing  population  dif- 
ficulties, great  good  might  eventuate;  the  lives  of 
many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  and  women  would 
be  made  brighter  and  better,  and  the  aid  of  future 
millions  of  industrious  and  loyal  settlers  would  be 
secured  to  the  Empire  in  its  time  of  need.  Nothing, 
however,  can  be  done  without  an  Imperial  Conference 
on  migration,  which  ought  to  be  called  as  soon  as 
public  interest  in  the  question  is  sufficiently  advanced. 

IMMIGRATION  TO  NEW  ZEALAND. 


The  warnings  against  emigration  to  Australia  or 
New  Zealand  which  have  been  issued  upon  the  author- 
ity of  the  Swedish  and  Danish  Governments  are  the 
reverse  of  complimentary  to  the  Administrations  of 
the  Commonwealth  and  the  Dominion.  We  need  not 
trouble  ourselves  about  the  Australian  phase  of  the 
question,  for  we  have  enough  to  do  if  we  consider 
fairly  and  dispassionately  the  meaning  to  New  Zealand 
of  this  most  uncomplimentary  Scandinavian  opinion. 
In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  recognized  that  while 
British  colonies  naturally  prefer  immigrants  of  British 
stock  they  unitedly  and  unanimously  give  to  Scandina- 
vian immigrants  a  whole-hearted  welcome.  Whether 
Swedish,  Danish,  or  Norwegian,  the  Scandinavian  is 
a  very  close  cousin  to  the  British,  and  is  absorbed  by 
any  English-speaking  community  more  easily  and 
more  quickly  than  any  other  foreigner.     He  has  no 


New  Zealand.  159 

disadvantage  but  his  language,  and  this  is  to  a  very 
considerable  extent  counterbalanced  in  him  by  the 
strength  of  common  racial  qualities  which  have  too 
usually  been  weakened  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Our 
political  institutions  are  almost  identical  with  his,  for 
they  are  drawn  from  the  same  source  and  have  been 
developed  under  much  the  same  conditions  of  isolation 
from  the  continental  conditions  of  Europe  Proper.  He 
is  intelligent,  industrious,  brave,  and  orderly,  with  the 
same  standards  of  comfort  and  the  same  conceptions  of 
civilization.  Moreover,  though  Scandinavia  is  the 
true  mother  of  what  we  commonly  call  Anglo-Saxon- 
dom,  it  has  built  up  no  World-Empire,  and  does  not 
set  up  any  such  claim  upon  the  patriotism  of  its  em- 
igrating children  as  can  interfere  with  loyalty  to  the 
lands  of  their  adoption.  Lastly,  though  not  leastly 
the  Scandinavian  is  a  genuine  land  settler,  preferring 
the  country  to  the  town,  and  having  that  healthy  land 
hunger  which  is  the  most  desirable  stimulant  to  per- 
manent colonization.  If  any  colonial  statesman  were 
asked  to  place  his  finger  upon  that  part  of  the  map 
of  the  world,  outside  the  United  Kingdom,  from  which 
he  would  wish  to  draw  the  immigration  which  is  the 
very  life  blood  of  new  lands,  he  would  unhesitatingly 
cover  the  peninsulas  lying  between  the  Baltic  and  the 
North  Sea.  No  English-speaking  country,  British  or 
American,  has  ever  been  able  to  secure  enough  Scandi- 
navian immigrants,  has  never  had  to  complain  that  they 
endangered  its  institutions,  demoralized  its  civilization, 
or  lowered  its  standards.  We  cannot,  therefore  pass 
lightly  over  what  is  practically  an  impeachment,  by 
free  Scandinavian  Governments,  of  our  colonial  ad- 
ministration. We  may  fairly  say  that,  as  far  as  New 
Zealand  is  concerned,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
exaggeration  in  the  official  warnings  which  have  been 
issued ;  and  we  can  honestly  believe  that,  in  spite  of 
everything,  the  Scandinavian  would  find  greater  in- 


160  New  Zealand. 

dustrial  opportunities  in  this  under-populated  Dom- 
inion than  in  his  over-populated  peninsulas.  But  we 
cannot  conceal  the  unhappy  fact  that  when  we  locked 
the  land  against  eager  settlers,  under  the  iniquitous 
"taihoa"  policy,  we  made  New  Zealand  an  undesirable 
goal  to  the  land-settling  people,  British  and  Scandi- 
navian alike. 

Sir  Joseph  Ward  has  the  partisan  virtue  of  cleaving 
to  his  friends,  even  when  they  make  such  a  hopeless 
muddle  of  departmental  affairs  as  does  Mr.  James 
Carroll;  he  can  construe  figures  to  mean  almost  any- 
thing, and  is  rarely  at  a  loss  for  statements  and  argu- 
ments wherewith  to  justify  the  administrative  system 
for  which  he  is  responsible.  Unfortunately,  this  par- 
tisan virtue  and  these  arithmetical  agilities  do  not  alter 
facts ;  they  cannot  transform  the  locked-up  wilderness 
through  which  the  Main  Trunk  runs  for  so  many  miles 
into  the  populous  and  productive  region  it  should  be ; 
they  cannot  give  a  section  of  bush  land  to  the  land- 
seeker  who  knows  that  we  have  millions  of  unoccupied 
and  fertile  acres  in  the  North,  and  foolishly  imagines 
that  fair  official  words  mean  that  the  Government  en- 
courages settlement.  During  1909  our  increase  in 
population  by  excess  of  immigration  over  emigration 
was  only  4000.  This  pitifully  small  result,  in  a  country 
which  could  easily  have  gained  40,000  under  sound  and 
capable  administration,  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
"taihoa"  policy.  For  the  prices  of  our  agricultural 
produce  have  been  cheeringly  and  steadily  good.  There 
is  no  likelihood  of  any  sudden  collapse  in  prices,  and 
every  prospect  of  their  continued  maintenance.  Our 
seasons  are  the  envy  of  the  agricultural  world.  Our 
land  will  compare  for  fertility  with  any  land  on  the 
face  of  the  globe.  But  settlement  has  been  deliberately 
and  wilfully  blocked,  as  every  would-be  settler  knows 
by  the  painful  experience  which  is  more  convincing 
than  all  the  arguments  of  official  apologists.     We  shall 


New  Zealand.  161 

probably  be  told  that  at  this  very  moment  and  for  this 
present  month  1,126,000  acres  are  being  opened  for 
selection  by  the  Government;  to  which  it  may  be  re- 
torted that  if  this  is  the  sort  of  thing  which  has  been 
held  out  as  an  inducement  to  immigrants  it  is  no 
wonder  that  the  Scandinavian  authorities  are  suspic- 
ious. For  this  nominally  huge  area  includes  the  fol- 
lowing pastoral  leases,  which  as  everybody  knows  are 
formally  reopened  as  they  fall  in : — Marlborough  81,- 
852  acres;  Westland,  128,660  acres;  Otago,  739,526 
acres;  Southland,  141,066  acres.  In  other  words, 
nearly  1,100,000  acres  are  non-agricultural,  are  rough 
pastoral  runs  being  passed  again  through  the  leasing 
machinery.  The  small  balance  includes  sections 
offered  under  the  rack-renting  lease  only,  as  well  as 
those  offered  under  the  optional  tenure.  Comment  is 
needless.  As  long  as  the  Government  refuses  to  allow 
the  natural  growth  of  settlement  on  Crown  lands,  and 
takes  no  effective  steps  to  remove  the  taboo  laid  by  the 
Maori  Landlord  policy  upon  native  lands,  so  long  will 
our  own  urban  population  suffer  recurrently  from  dull- 
ness of  trade  and  lack  of  employment,  our  finances 
feel  the  evil  in  falling  revenue  and  unprofitable  services 
and  Scandinavian  Governments  find  good  reason  for 
advising  their  emigrating  men  and  women  to  keep 
away  from  New  Zealand.  It  is  shameful  that  this 
should  be,  but,  to  be  just,  the  shame  falls  not  upon 
Sir  Joseph  Ward  or  Mr.  Carroll,  but  upon  the  self- 
governing  people  that  permits  itself  to  be  thus  mis- 
governed. 

In  the  country,  no  less  than  in  the  towns, 
the  result  seemed  discouraging.  Except  in  a 
small  tract  just  south  of  Auckland,  the  people 
had  the  air  of  being  camped  out.  People  liv- 
ing on  it  do  not  love  the  soil.    It  is  not  their 


162  New  /^^ealanB. 

property — their  home.  Nor  can  they  say  it  is 
because  it  is  a  new,  raw  country.  I  have  just 
returned  from  a  trip  along  the  Gulf  coast  of 
Southern  Texas  where  they  have  only  had  a 
railroad  five  years.  The  difference  is  too 
great  to  be  described.  In  one  case — New  Zea- 
land— the  settler  is  working  for  the  public ;  in 
Texas,  for  himself,  his  old  age  and  for  his 
children. 

He  was  an  out-and-out  socialist.  He  be- 
lieved and  openly  asserted  that  all  ownership 
of  property  was  a  crime,  that  state  ought  to 
resume  and  retain  all  land  and  conduct  all 
enterprises,  etc.,  etc.  So  aggressive  was  he 
and  so  little  did  he  know  what  an  argument 
was  that  it  was  positively  painful  to  talk  with 
him.  He  was  not  a  German  nor  a  Frenchman, 
but  a  Canadian  of  British  descent.  When  I 
called  his  attention  to  the  result  of  his  ideas 
in  New  Zealand  he  did  not  even  attempt  to 
deny  the  condition  of  affairs  in  that  country 
and  the  startling  contrast  between  it  and  even 
Canada,  but  attributed  it  all  to  the  unprogres- 
sive  nature  of  British  blood  and  ideas.  Coming 
from  a  man  of  the  race,  a  man  who  traveled 
extensively,  this  idea  is  worthy  of  some  at- 
tention.   I  will  confess  that  even  I  cannot  tell 


New  Zealand.  163 

how  mucli  to  attribute  this  backwardness  to 
the  people  themselves,  and  how  much  to  their 
laws  and  institutions.  Take  all  I  have  written 
about  the  sleepy,  antiquated  aspect  of  every- 
thing in  Australia  and  quadruple  it  and  you 
can  begin  to  imagine  New  Zealand.  Aus- 
tralians every  summer  pour  into  New  Zealand 
to  see  the  mountains,  rivers,  lakes  and  aborigi- 
nes, as  we  go  to  the  Rockies.  Every  year  the 
New  Zealanders  pour  into  Melbourne  and  Syd- 
ney to  shop,  enjoy  city  life  and  "brush  off  the 
hay  seed",  as  our  people  go  to  New  York  or 
Chicago.  The  sleepy,  backward  old  towns  of 
Australia,  with  their  poor  hotels,  are  to  them 
wonders  of  brightness,  and  they  figure  on  the 
time  when  they  will  get  rich  enough  to  go  and 
live  in  Australia. 

Says  their  greatest  authority:  "This  New- 
est England  is  no  Utopia,  no  Paradise.  Both 
New  Zealand  and  Australia  are  far  behind 
England  and  the  United  States  in  the  new 
municipal  life,  which  is  the  most  promising 
thing  in  our  politics,  though  as  yet  little  more 
than  a  promise." 

There  was  a  handsome,  stalwart  young  Eng- 
lishman who  had  lived  eleven  years  in  Sacra- 
mento City,  going  down  to  New  Zealand  where 


164  New  Zealand. 

he  had  a  brother  living.  He  was  aged  I  should 
say  between  thirty  and  thirty-five.  He  had 
also  lived  in  South  Africa,  and  was  distinctly 
above  the  grade  of  laborer.  After  twenty- 
seven  days  contact  with  him  I  should  say  he 
was  capable  of  filling  any  position.  I  after- 
wards met  him  in  Auckland.  Without  myself 
opening  in  that  strain  he  at  once  began  ex- 
pressing his  surprise  at  the  antiquated  state  of 
everything.  In  his  words:  "A  man  from  a 
little  provincial  town  in  England  might  not 
notice  it,  but  that  it  was  hard  to  a  man  from 
the  States.  It  is  the  difference  between  a  candle 
and  an  electric  light."  This  was  Auckland,  a 
town  as  large  as  Denver,  and  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  Dominion.  He  further  added 
that  there  was  nothing  he  could  do  or  turn  to 
but  sheep  farming,  and  that  he  was  then 
studying  up  that  industry.  He  could  not  en- 
gage in  a  better  undertaking. 

Some  of  these  ways  are  ludicrous,  and  at  the 
same  time  vexatious.  They  would  be  unworthy 
of  mentioning  in  a  book  if  they  did  not  throw 
so  much  light  on  the  nature  of  the  people  and 
country.  I  had  been  out  to  one  of  their  numer- 
ous beaches,  in  which  Wellington  is  well  sup- 
plied.   It  was  pleasant  to  watch  the  children 


New  Zealand.  165 

play  in  the  water  and  on  the  sand,  and  I 
lingered,  it  being  a  mid-suinmer  evening;  I  got 
back  to  the  hotel  a  little  after  seven.  The 
dining  room  was  closed.  I  started  out  to  find 
something  to  eat  on  the  streets;  restaurants, 
groceries,  bakeries  and  fruit  stores  were  all 
closed,  that  is  such  as  they  have,  there  being 
no  regular  restaurants.  It  was  a  city  of  the 
dead.  Occasionally  a  street  car  passed,  the 
only  sign  of  life  in  a  city  of  nearly  100,000 
people  and  their  capital.  After  visiting  about 
a  dozen  eating  places  I  at  last  found  a  little 
place  open  where  the  woman  in  charge  told  me 
I  could  get  cake  or  scones,  tea,  coffee  or  choco- 
late, and  nothing  else.  I  ordered  scones  and 
chocolate.  The  latter  of  course  had  a  dead  fly 
in  it,  so  I  had  to  dine  on  a  couple  of  scones  and 
a  glass  of  water,  knowing  at  the  time  I  could 
get  nothing  more  to  eat  until  eight  o'clock  the 
next  morning.  This  where  the  sun  was  up  and 
shining  at  5  a.  m.,  and  I  up  too  and  anything 
but  shining. 

On  Sunday  the  breakfast  hour  is  8:30.  The 
street  cars  do  not  run  until  noon,  and  none  but 
a  few  heathen  Chinese  sell  fruit  or  candies. 
Such  things  as  steam  heat,  private  bath  rooms 
and  use  of  ice  to  keep  provisions  from  deterio- 


166  New  Zealand. 

rating  are  unknown,  also  screens.  At  the  hotel 
I  stopped  in  at  Wellington  the  stables  were 
within  thirty  feet  of  the  dining  room,  with  no 
screens  or  even  electric  fans.  The  minute  pro- 
visions were  placed  upon  the  table  they  were 
blackened  with  flies;  the  sugar  bowl  was  also. 
In  Auckland  my  room  was  like  a  hive.  I  think 
I  killed  at  least  five  hundred  a  day  with  a 
folded  newspaper  without  any  diminution  in 
their  number.  They  had  no  sense  of  fear  and 
took  my  blows  without  effort  to  escape.  I 
might  state  my  present  idea  of  perfect  misery 
is  being  awakened  at  4  a.  m.  by  swarms  of  flies 
in  an  Auckland  hotel,  with  no  breakfast  in 
sight  until  8  a.  m.  After  what  I  have  written 
concerning  these  matters  in  Australia  this  is 
an  unpleasant,  stale  subject.  It  is  as  unpleas- 
ant to  me  to  refer  to  it  as  it  will  be  to  others  to 
read  it.  I  could  follow  out  these  ideas  to  an 
unlimited  extent  and  point  out  an  infinity  of 
petty  matters  wherein  they  are  subject  to 
improvement  over  which  their  laws  and  insti- 
tutions have  no  influence.  They  are  little,  it  is 
true,  but  the  lack  of  them  tend  to  make  their 
country  unattractive  to  the  natives  of  all  the 
peoples  of  Europe  but  those  of  England  and 
Scotland,  and  to  all  of  them  except  to  those 


New  Zealand.  167 

who  know  no  better.  To  any  criticism  there 
is  always  the  ready  reply:  **It  suits  us,  so  there 
is  nothing  more  to  be  said  on  the  matter."  I 
have  only  referred  to  them  to  show  that  the 
decadent  state  of  the  country  may  not  be 
wholly  attributed  to  its  institutions.  Whether 
my  socialistic  readers  think  so  or  not,  I  desire 
to  be  fair  and  unprejudiced.  If  I  had  found 
New  Zealand  as  I  had  had  it  held  up  to  be  it 
would  have  given  me  pleasure  to  say  so. 

I  would  be  unfair,  however,  if  I  did  not 
mention  one  place,  a  week's  stay,  at  which 
forms  one  of  the  pleasantest  recollections  of 
all  my  travels — Rotorua — amid  the  hot 
springs  and  its  interesting  tribe  of  aborigines. 
To  become  acquainted  with  the  Maoris,  as  the 
tribe  is  called,  was  my  chief  object  in  visiting 
the  country.  They  are  mostly  gathered  in  the 
region  of  the  hot  springs,  and  together  with 
the  beautiful  mountain  lake,  the  vegetation, 
the  araucarias  and  enormous  tree  ferns,  and 
the  spouting  springs,  purely  the  result  of 
chemical  action,  form  a  place  well  worth 
traveling  thousands  of  miles  to  see.  The  vil- 
lage is  beautiful,  much  like  an  American 
country  town,  with  its  neat  wooden  cottages 
placed  in  large  yards  filled  with  flowers.    The 


168  New  Zealand. 

extensive  and  universal  culture  of  flowers 
among  the  English  is  about  their  finest  trait, 
and  nowhere,  not  even  in  California — ^pre- 
eminently the  land  of  flowers — do  they  grow 
finer  ones,  cosmos  growing  up  to  the  eaves 
of  the  houses,  auratum  lilies  over  twelve 
inches  in  diameter,  prove  the  goodness  of  the 
soil,  as  well  as  their  fondness  for  their  cultiva- 
tion. The  unexplained  scarcity  and  high  price 
of  fruit  still  surprises,  but  as  no  one  individual 
owns  a  foot  of  ground  anywhere  in  or  around 
the  town  that  may  account  for  it. 

There  are  no  hotels,  but  the  boarding  houses 
in  all  save  eating  are  excellent,  and  the  best  I 
found  in  all  Australasia,  while  the  price  is 
very  reasonable.  After  the  horrors  of  the 
Wellington  house,  my  Kotorua  stopping  place 
seemed  a  haven  of  rest.  Having  seen  hot 
springs  in  several  different  countries,  from 
Africa  to  South  America,  they  did  not  interest 
me  greatly.  Except  the  common  silicious 
sinter,  the  creation  of  such  springs,  there  are 
no  minerals  of  interest  in  the  neighborhood. 
So  I  devoted  all  my  attention  to  the  natives, 
and  they  were  well  worthy  of  my  time,  and 
even  a  more  extended  visit,  and  are  worthy  of 
a  more  extended  description  than  I  can  give  in 


New  Zealand.  169 

a  book  on  sociology.  I  cannot  resist  saying, 
however,  that  as  they  never  had  taro  before 
the  advent  of  the  whites,  but  pounded  instead 
roots  of  a  species  of  fern,  this  disposes  in  my 
mind  of  the  myth  so  dear  to  the  antiquarians 
of  Hawaii  that  there  was  uninterrupted  com- 
mmiication  between  them  and  their  relatives 
at  Honoluki  in  their  little  canoes  over  thou- 
sands of  miles  of  open  ocean  without  compass. 
I  never  did  believe  in  it,  and  now  I  am  certain. 
The  English  and  their  colonials,  the  New 
Zealanders,  have  always  been  good  to  the 
Maoris,  considering  that  they  stole  their  coun- 
try. ''The  earth  belongs  to  the  saints".  With 
the  exception  of  one  little  war,  they  have  al- 
ways lived  amicably  together,  and  I  could  see 
no  evidence  of  that  bitter,  unending  hatred 
which  the  native  Ilawaiians  have  for  the  mis- 
sionary element  in  that  land.  One  feels  like 
congratulating  them  on  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  Episcopalians  instead  of  the  Congre- 
gationalists.  Their  native  ways  have  never 
been  interfered  with.  Their  native  dances,  so 
rigorously  prohibited  in  Hawaii,  they  give  to 
the  public  every  week;  at  times  under  govern- 
ment auspices  in  the  pump  room  of  the  sani- 
tarium, and  the   person  must  have  a  very 


170  New  Zealand. 

prurient  mind  who  can  object  to  their  boys  and 
girls — sweet  as  little  angels — bathing  in  j)nris 
naturalibus  in  the  creeks  and  pools.  I  suppose 
a  Boston  school  mam  would  be  willing  to  look 
upon  them  through  an  opera  glass,  but  not 
otherwise.  Their  women  have  all  the  winning, 
fascinating  ways  of  the  French  women,  and 
the  English  marry  them  very  frequently  and 
without  loss  of  caste.  The  term  ' '  squaw  man ' ' 
is  never  applied  to  them  with  ignominy,  as 
with  us  in  the  West.  Upon  the  whole  I  think 
the  treatment  of  the  Maoris  by  the  English  the 
most  creditable  thing  in  the  history  of  New 
Zealand. 

A  Boston  critic,  referring  to  my  work 
on  the  Mayas,  said  that  a  collector  was 
a  hog.  A  hog  must  be  true  to  his  nature,  and 
as,  through  the  kindness  of  the  museum  direc- 
tors, I  succeeded  in  acquiring  both  plunder 
and  information,  I  shall  always  consider  my 
trip  to  New  Zealand  and  my  acquaintanceship 
with  the  Maoris  as  having  been  successful  be- 
yond my  expectations. 

While  at  a  village  in  the  Maori  country  I 
had  the  satisfaction  of  witnessing  a  native  law 
suit,  one  according  to  the  tribal  law  common 
to  primitive  people  all  over  the  world.     It 


New  Zealand.  171 

seems  that  a  member  of  that  village  which  has 
an  unspellable  and  unpronounceable  name  had 
run  away  with  the  wife  of  a  Maori  living  in 
some  other  village.  In  Chicago  the  man  whose 
wife  had  run  away  would  have  been  arrested 
and  sentenced  to  jail;  in  Hawaii  the  whites 
would  have  arrested  both  elopers  and  made 
them  work  the  roads  for  a  few  years.  The 
New  Zealanders  let  the  Maoris  settle  the  mat- 
ter in  their  own  way.  A  delegation  from  the 
other  village,  headed  by  a  handsome  middle- 
aged  man  with  bare  legs,  wearing  knicker- 
bockers, an  official  necklace  and  cane,  filed  in, 
calling  for  vendetta  or  a  valuable  considera- 
tion as  a  salve  for  their  wounded  feelings  and 
honor.  Their  chief,  who  had  the  head  of  a 
Roman  senator  and  the  demeanor  of  Regulus 
addressing  the  Carthagenians,  spoke  for  about 
an  hour,  while  his  delegation  sat  comfortably 
down  on  the  grass  in  the  shade  b}^  the  banks 
of  the  beautiful  stream  and  imbibed  warm 
bottled  pop.  Soda  water  is  never  iced  in  New 
Zealand.  Then  a  tall,  handsome  old  Maori 
took  up  the  reply  on  behalf  of  the  residents. 
Sometimes  his  antics  approached  near  to  a 
war  dance.  Thereupon  the  villagers  began 
bringing  guns,  cooking   utensils,    articles   of 


172  New  Zealand. 

clothing,  blankets,  etc.,  and  throwing  them  in 
a  pile  on  the  ground  before  the  delegation,  ac- 
companying the  act  with  some  expression  of 
opinion.  One  old  woman  carrying  an  old 
blanket  worth  perhaps  a  dollar,  before  throw- 
ing it  down  gave  utterance  to  a  speech  that 
was  almost  a  song  or  chant,  accompanying  it 
with  the  prettiest  piece  of  pantomine  I  had 
ever  witnessed.  Madame  Pilar-Morin  was  not 
even  a  good  second  to  her.  Plainer  than  words 
she  expressed  her  opinion  of  the  general 
worthlessness  of  women  in  general  and  the 
absolute,  ultimate  and  complete  worthlessness 
of  the  woman  in  question.  As  she  deposited 
the  blanket  on  the  pile  she  unquestionably 
said:  *'I  give  this  blanket  rather  than  have 
trouble,  but  she  is  not  worth  it,  the  brazen 
hussy."  I  left  before  the  matter  terminated, 
but  when  I  left  the  villagers  were  still  hopping 
around  like  toads  under  a  harrow,  while  the 
delegation  sat  silent  and  composed,  still  drink- 
ing warm  pop.  An  Englishman  there  said  the 
delegation  would  undoubtedly  take  the  goods, 
as  they  did  not  want  the  woman  back  at  any 
price. 

I  will  now  take  up  the  more  serious  ques- 
tions that  concern  the  country. 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.         173 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

State  Socialism  In  New  Zealand. 

Ten  years  ago  one  of  the  foremost  socialists 
in  the  United  States  visited  New  Zealand,  and 
afterwards  published  a  work  about  the  coun- 
try. His  work  is  quoted  by  all  the  newspapers 
of  both  this  and  that  country  as  authoritative, 
and  I  will  so  consider  it.  I  read  it  only  since 
my  return.  A  great  deal  of  the  matter  con- 
tained therein  I  learned  in  the  field,  but  in 
such  a  way  that  it  is  hard  to  quote  authority, 
which  to  an  old  lawyer  is  a  second  nature.  The 
writer  of  that  book  I  knew  personally  and  he 
is  now  dead,  otherwise  I  might  handle  him  and 
his  book  differently.  I  give  him  credit  for  be- 
ing sincere  and  earnest,  and  believe  his  book 
to  be  a  truthful  statement  of  affairs  in  that 
country.  I,  of  course,  do  not  agree  with  him 
in  his  conclusions,  and  think  ten  years  of  ex- 


174         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

perimentation  have  not  carried  out  his  roseate 
predictions.  I  did  not  meet  the  official  classes 
as  he  did,  nor  did  I  desire  to  do  so.  I  met 
mostly  the  business  men  and  men  of  science. 
Forty  years  contact  with  professional  poli- 
ticians have  taught  me  to  believe  yqtj  little  in 
what  they  say,  and  nothing  at  all  in  what  they 
do,  as  the  practice  of  ' '  queering ' '  among  them 
is  almost  universal,  that  is  ostensibly  speaking 
and  working  in  favor  of  a  measure  while 
secretly  murdering  it.  I  expected  that  if  I 
called  upon  one  of  them  the  prosperity  of  New 
Zealand  would  be  painted  in  the  most  vivid 
and  alluring  colors.  Their  year  book  did  not 
show  it,  my  eyes  did  not  show  it,  and  their 
business  men  did  not  show  it,  and  so  far  as  I 
could  learn  their  artisans  did  not  show  it.  A 
business  man  will  not  willingly  run  down  his 
own  business  world  nor  the  place  he  lives  in. 
As  he  supports  not  only  himself  and  his  f  amity 
but  the  politician  and  his  family,  his  word  is 
entitled  to  the  more  credit  of  the  two. 

New  Zealand  is  unquestionably  the  most  ad- 
vanced socialistic  country  in  the  world,  far 
more  so  than  even  Australia.  It  is  the  fol- 
lowing things: 

Banker. 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  175 

Broker. 

Bull  Owner. 

Coal  Dealer. 

Clothing  Maker. 

Competitor  in  many  lines. 

Sugar  Manufacturer. 

Exporter. 

Farmer. 

Butcher. 

Fire  Insurer. 

Life  Insurer. 

Intelligence  Office. 

Hotel  Keeper. 

Guide. 

Landlord. 

Land  Monopolist. 

Lawyer. 

News  Distributor. 

Partner  in  Business. 

Railway  Owner. 

Street  Car  Owner. 

Railway  Manufacturer. 

Sugar  Refiner. 

Real  Estate  Dealer. 

Electric  Light  Manufacturer. 

Savings  Bank. 

Annuity  Insurer. 


176         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

Telegraph  Owner. 

Telephone  Owner. 

Restaurateur. 

These  in  addition  to  our  familiar  ones  of 
conducting  the  post  offices,  making  the  roads, 
educating  the  children,  protecting  the  public 
and  preserving  the  peace. 

All  the  above  is  only  a  beginning.  Below 
come  what  they  are  still  after.  The  leaders  of 
the  so-called  progressive  party  pledge  them- 
selves to  attain  them,  and  they  are  rapidly  ac- 
complishing it. 

State  Fire  Insurance. 

Further  democratization  of  transportation 
of  the  steamship  lines,  the  ocean  to  be  no 
longer  free. 

Nationalization  of  the  coal  mines. 

Complete  nationalization  of  the  land. 

Assumption  by  the  government  of  the  busi- 
ness of  mining  and  selling  coal. 

Increase  of  the  land  and  income  taxes  for 
the  further  equalization  of  rich  and  poor. 

Removal  of  tariff  taxation  on  the  necessaries 
of  life. 

Establishment  of  government  offices  where 
cheap  law  can  be  served  out  to  the  people. 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  177 

Regulation  of  rents  for  tlie  protection  of 
tenants  from  political  pressure  by  landlords. 

Extension  of  the  purchase  and  subdivision 
of  the  large  estates  so  that  all  the  people  may 
have  land. 

State  banking  to  give  the  people  the  owner- 
ship and  administration  of  the  machinery  of 
commercial  and  financial  credit,  doing  for  the 
business  class  what  the  state  with  its  advances 
to  settlers  does  for  the  farmers,  tradesmen  and 
working  men. 

The  nationalization  of  the  news  service, 
government  to  own  all  newspapers. 

The  above  list  is  from  my  socialistic 
authority,  and  was  made  ten  years  ago;  much 
of  it  has  been  realized;  great  strides  have  been 
made  towards  all  of  them.  While  I  was  there 
the  great  agitation  was  for  state  payment  of 
wages  to  men  out  of  work ;  it  was  not  included 
in  the  list.  When  I  asked  what  would  be  done 
to  have  the  unpleasant  work  accomplished 
when  no  man  had  to  work  unless  he  felt  in- 
clined, I  was  told  it  would  be  done  by  forced 
corvees,  of  all  the  men  in  portions.  Now  let 
me  say  that  I  extend  my  hearty  sympathies 
to  the  progressive  party  in  New  Zealand,  and 
express  my  wishes  and  desires  that  all  their 


116         State  Socialism  in  New  ZealanG. 

program  will  be  carried  out  to  the  utmost  ex- 
tent of  their  desires.  I  want  to  see  it  all  tried 
and  am  satisfied  to  see  New  Zealand  try  it.  So 
far  as  they  have  already  gone  satisfies  me,  but 
I  want  the  rest  of  the  world  to  ascertain  by 
their  example  how  far  a  community  may 
safely  go  in  that  direction.  I  think  it  lies  some 
distance  this  side  of  New  Zealand. 

I  will  not  assert  that  all  those  measures  are 
unwise  and  destructive.  That  capacity  is  not 
given  to  me,  and  I  will  not  grant  that  it  has 
been  given  to  any  other  man  of  the  human  race. 
So  long  as  the  race  is  made  up  of  the  idle  and 
the  industrious,  the  vicious  and  the  reason- 
able, the  spendthrift  and  the  provident  man, 
the  thief  and  the  honest  man,  the  drunken  and 
the  temperate,  the  sharper  and  the  imbecile, 
the  farmer  and  the  city  man,  the  professional 
tax  eater  and  the  unwilling  tax  payer,  I  pre- 
sume the  science  of  government  will  be  purely 
experimental,  a  game  of  give  and  take.  My 
authority  arrogates  to  himself  that  wisdom  all 
through  his  book ;  he  lays  it  down  as  a  princi- 
ple that  everything  taken  from  the  individual 
and  given  to  the  state  is  a  benefit,  and  that 
everything  taken  from  a  man  who  has  any- 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  179 

thing  and  given  to  a  man  who  has  nothing  is  a 
benefit. 

With  my  limited  understanding,  however, 
I  think  I  may  lay  down  the  following  incontro- 
verted principles : 

That  protection  is  a  government  function, 
as  no  man  could  protect  himself  against  either 
a  gang  of  bandits  or  a  foreign  invasion. 

That  regulation  of  the  currency  is  also  a 
govermnental  matter,  otherwise  every  man 
could  issue  his  more  or  less  worthless  money. 

That  education  should  be  made  a  matter  of 
sublime  importance,  as  the  state  is  another 
parent  to  each  individual,  which  includes  posts 
and  other  dissemination  of  intelligence,  as  it  is 
mostly  done  without  any  prospect  of  or  hope 
of  profit  except  in  general  welfare.  They  are 
a  matter  of  expense  to  the  community  and  will 
probably  always  be  so,  and  we  are  satisfied  to 
pay  for  them  sensibly  administered,  as  we  are 
satisfied  to  pay  for  the  lighting  of  our  houses 
during  the  long  winter  nights.  It  is  my  firm 
conviction,  however,  that  beyond  these  every 
step  is  the  step  of  a  blind  man  over  a  danger- 
ous, rocky,  precipitous  path.  Every  advance 
should  be  slow,  timid  and  hesitating,  only 
taken  after  carefully  feeling  the  way  with  the 


180         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

knowledge  of  the  precipice  lying  on  the  left 
hand.  Under  this  head  we  may  say  that  liberty 
is  the  most  precious  heritage  of  man,  bought 
by  the  struggles  of  centuries  and  the  blood  and 
sacrifices  of  the  best,  and  that  ought  to  be 
jealously  guarded.  Every  individual  right 
surrendered  to  the  state  makes  one  less  a  free 
man;  the  total  surrender  of  everything  to  the 
state,  under  whatever  name  it  may  be  called, 
makes  one  a  slave  beyond  even  the  domestic 
slavery  of  ancient  times  where  they  all  consti- 
tuted a  sort  of  great  family,  or  the  yoke  of 
more  recent  African  slavery.  Short  of  that 
and  not  within  the  domain  of  speculative  soci- 
ology is  the  fact  that  everything  done  by  the 
state  is  more  expensively  done  than  if  done  by 
private  enterprise,  spurred  on  by  the  hope  of 
profit  and  the  fear  of  competition.  In  my  talk 
with  the  Canadian  socialist  I  asserted  that 
everything  our  state  did  cost  money  to  be  paid 
by  taxation;  that  our  schools,  our  army,  our 
navy,  our  various  legislative  bodies,  our 
courts,  foreign  representatives,  executives, 
geological  and  coast  surveys,  were  so  paid  for 
and  that  even  our  post  office  costs  us  sixteen 
millions  a  year  over  receipts.  Thereupon  I 
laid  it  down  as  a  fact  that  where  an  individual 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  181 

or  a  private  corporation  paid  three  dollars  for 
a  service  the  state  paid  four  or  five  dollars.  He 
admitted  this  and  said  it  was  right,  that  every 
man  ought  to  have  good  wages,  etc.,  disregard- 
ing my  claim  that  the  difference  consisted 
more  in  the  amount  of  service  given  than  in 
the  wages,  which  also  differed.  When  I  stated 
that  taking  over  the  telegraph  and  telephone 
would  cost  ten  or  sixteen  millions  more  above 
receipts  he  admitted  and  justified  that.  When 
I  stated  that  taking  over  the  railroads,  the  coal 
mines,  etc,,  etc.,  would  each  cost  many  millions 
more  above  receipts,  he  admitted  and  justified 
all  that.  So  does  my  authority  in  his  book  on 
New  Zealand.  Therein  lies  the  first  and  most 
patent  danger  from  state  socialism.  The 
socialist  thinks  the  purse  of  the  public  is  as 
abundant  and  inexhaustible  as  the  waters  of 
the  ocean;  that  there  can  be  no  limit  to  the 
demands  upon  it.  This  the  conscientious  ones 
like  my  author.  Then  there  are  the  others, 
thieves  by  instinct,  who  ardently  desire  to 
drain  every  man  who  has  one  of  his  last  dollar. 
The  man  in  the  press  being  squeezed  out  of  his 
life  blood,  drop  by  drop,  like  the  victim  in  the 
embrace  of  the  iron  woman  during  the  middle 
ages,  knows  there  is  a  limit  and  with  the 


182         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

escape  of  every  drop  of  blood  feels  weaker  and 
weaker.  On  my  farm  is  a  very  fine  spring  of 
water,  fully  adequate  to  supply  all  the  stock 
that  will  ever  be  on  the  farm.  What  would 
that  do  towards  supplying  Joliet,  our  county 
seat,  with  its  40,000  people,  or  Chicago'? 

Let  us  see  how  it  works  so  far  as  it  has  gone 
in  New  Zealand.  Ten  years  are  a  very  short 
period  in  the  life  of  a  man.  In  the  life  of  a 
people  infinitesimally  small,  but  in  this  case 
ten  years  are  enough.  We  will  first  take  the 
railroads,  the  nationalization  of  which  has 
been  pushed  further  there  than  anywhere  else 
in  the  world.  New  Zealand  owns  all  its  rail- 
roads. I  paid  four  cents  a  mile  to  ride  first- 
class  from  Wellington  to  Taumarinui  on  the 
Wanganui  River.  They  called  it  the  'Hrain 
de  luxe ' ' — the  luxurious  train.  It  was  hardly 
equal  to  our  freight  trains  with  cushion  seats. 
The  train  left  a  little  after  daylight  and 
reached  my  destination,  a  little  over  two  hun- 
dred miles,  at  midnight.  I  will  not  compare 
it  with  any  trains  in  the  United  States  or 
Mexico,  because  neither  country  has  trains  so 
poor.  It  was  very  much  poorer  than  the 
Yankee-owned  railroads  in  Central  America. 
It  bumped  along  about  like  a  stage  coach  over 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.         183 

a  corduroy  road.  A  few  days  before  a  train 
for  Napier  from  Wellington  stuck  right  in  the 
middle  of  a  long  tunnel.  It  could  neither  go 
forward  nor  back  out.  When  it  was  extricated 
it  was  found  that  several  people  had  been 
smothered  to  death;  I  escaped  that  fate.  There 
were  no  air  brakes,  no  vestibules,  no  electric 
lights,  no  double  windows,  no  toilet  appliances, 
There  was  a  dining  car.  I  washed  for  lunch 
by  pouring  a  glass  of  drinking  water  on  my 
handkerchief  and  passing  it  over  my  hands 
and  face.  The  service  and  food  in  the  dining 
car  was  hardly  so  good  as  in  a  Halsted  Street 
beanery  during  the  rush  hour.  The  lunch 
costing  62  cents  was  not  nearly  so  good  as  a 
twenty-five  cent  lunch  at  Child's.  If  you  had 
asked  for  ice  water  they  would  have  confined 
you  as  a  crazy  man.  On  the  coaches  one  in 
half  an  hour  would  become  white  from  dust 
which  lay  thick  over  seats,  clothing,  baggage 
and  window  sills.  From  the  Wanganui  River 
on,  the  ordinary  mail  train  was  taken^  It 
carried  freight  cars  and  stopped  at  every  sta- 
tion from  five  to  twenty  minutes.  Starting 
right  after  breakfast  Rotorua,  a  distance  of 
less  than  two  hundred  miles,  was  reached  as 
the  long  summer  day  was  merging  into  night, 


184  State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

at  a  rate  of  about  twelve  miles  an  hour.  Tak- 
ing the  express  train  de  luxe  from  there  run- 
ning right  through  to  Auckland,  this  swift 
train  took  from  morning  to  night,  a  distance  of 
170  miles.  The  ride  tired  me  more  than  the 
four  days  journey  from  Chicago  to  San  Fran- 
cisco for  purpose  of  taking  the  boat  to  go  to 
that  country. 

We  will  now  call  upon  the  New  Zealanders 
themselves  as  witnesses.  The  communication 
referred  to  in  the  first  I  did  not  see.  Both  are 
taken  from  the  New  Zealand  herald. 

HOW  OUR  RAILWAYS  ARE  RUN. 


Sir, — I  am  able  to  practically  sympathize  with  your 
correspondent  "Visitor,"  for  some  two  months  ago  my 
wife  and  I  underwent  similar  experiences.  We  were 
staying  with  friends  at  Waihi,  and  noting  in  the  time 
table  that  if  we  left  Waihi  by  the  6.5  p.  m.  train  we 
should  catch  the  7.35  at  Paeroa,  and  arrive  at  Te 
Aroha  at  8.25,  we  arranged  accordingly.  We  did  not 
then  know  that  this  official  time  table  was  a  hoax. 
We  sat  on  the  Paeroa  platform,  waiting  from  seven 
o'clock  until  nine,  when  the  train  dragged  itself  along- 
side it.  In  our  simplicity  we  walked  to  the  passenger 
cars  at  the  end,  and  on  boarding  one  of  them  a  porter 
came  and  peremptorily  told  us  to  get  out,  for  the 
train  would  not  go  on  for  half  an  hour,  when  we  should 
have  to  board  it  "in  the  yard."  Asking  where  the 
"yard"  was,  he  pointed  in  the  darkness  towards  Te 
Aroha,  so  I  pulled  our  luggage  on  to  the  platform 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  185 

again,  but  afterwards  seeing  that  the  guard's  van  was 
open,  and  to  save  carrying  it  to  the  "yard"  by  and 
by,  I  placed  it  in  the  van,  only  to  have  it  again 
thrown  out,  because  it  was  not  labelled.  Ignoring 
rules  and  regulations  I  replaced  the  luggage  on  the 
passenger  coach.  We  then  spent  another  half-hour 
on  the  platform,  when  we  groped  our  way  through 
the  darkness  to  the  "yard",  having  a  well  founded  be- 
lief, that  the  officials  would  not  trouble  to  warn  us 
before  the  train  started.  After  walking  along  the  track 
a  short  distance  we  came  to  a  lighted  carriage,  which 
we  identified  by  finding  our  luggage  where  we  had 
left  it.  There  was  not  a  sign  of  life  about  the  place, 
and  we  realized  our  wisdom  in  acting  on  our  own 
initiative,  for  we  immediately  afterwards  moved  away. 
The  train  stopping,  eventually,  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  Te  Aroha,  we  were  asked  to  get  down,  which 
we  did,  burdened  with  our  heavy  luggage,  stumbling 
over  sleepers  and  other  obstructions,  which,  in  the 
darkness,  we  could  not  see.  At  10 :30  (two  hours  late) 
we  found  ourselves  on  the  station  platform,  which 
was  in  total  darkness,  the  only  living  person  being  the 
guard  of  the  train.  There  being  nobody  to  take  the 
luggage,  and  no  way  of  leaving  it  at  the  station,  which 
was  locked  up,  we  "humped"  it  through  deserted 
streets,  arriving  at  the  hotel  at  10 :45,  almost  exhausted. 
Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  primitive  and  provoking 
railway  trips  it  was  ever  my  misfortune  to  take,  and  I 
am  told  that  it  is  the  usual  thing. 

Between  the  populous  centre  of  Waihi  and  the  well- 
known  neighboring  resort,  Te  Aroha,  a  distance  of 
only  26  miles,  there  is  practically  no  connection  after 
the  9  :40  train  in  the  morning.  Excepting  the  Rotorua, 
the  Auckland-Wellington  and  Christchurch-Dunedin 
express  trains,  we  really  have  no  passenger  trains 
worthy  of  the  name  in  New  Zealand.  Our  railways 
are,  generally  speaking,  simply  a  good  and  live  stock 


186  State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

service,  passengers  being  only  an  incidental  considera- 
tion. And  can  we  expect  it  to  be  otherwise?  Each 
Minister  who  takes  charge  of  our  railways,  knows  no 
more  about  practically  working  them,  than  he  does  of 
the  solar  system.  Thus,  instead  of  supervising,  he  be- 
comes subservient  to  our  permanent  officials,  who, 
being  "in  the  rut"  themselves,  drag  him  in  too — every 
time.  Taking  our  New  Zealand  railway  service  alto- 
gether, I  honestly  believe  it  to  be  the  most  unsatis- 
factory railway  service  in  the  world.  Again  and  again, 
in  the  pursuit  of  my  business,  I  have  traveled  on  the 
railroads  of  nearly  every  new  country,  and  thus  I  can 
speak  from  experience.  The  people  of  New  Zealand 
do  not  know  how  much  theirs  are  behind  the  average 
railways  of  the  world,  and  how  little  accommodation 
they  really  get  for  their  money. — H.  H. 

LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 


North  Auckland  Main  Trunk  Trains. 

Sir : — On  the  29th  ult,  the  usual  evening  Helensville 
to  Wellsford  train  was  detained  in  the  interest  of  the 
passengers  from  Helensville  Show — a  train  arrange- 
ment termed  a  "special,"  for  which  its  patrons  are 
expected  to  be  grateful.  The  public  patronized  it  well, 
five  or  six  carriages  being  filled  to  overflowing,  and,  in 
addition,  there  were  several  cattle  and  horse  trucks. 
The  men  in  charge  took  extra  trouble,  both  at  the 
engine  and  in  looking  to  the  comfort  of  passengers, 
the  train  being  opened  throughout  and  well  lighted. 
But  the  engine !  As  soon  as  we  began  to  climb  the 
slope  above  Kanohi  the  dragging  pace  promised 
trouble,  and  half-way  up  to  the  tunnel  the  skidding 
of  the  wheels  and  a  few  snorts  and  grunts  brought  us 
to  a  standstill.  Then  we  had  to  retrograde  into  Kanohi. 
A  fresh  head  of  steam  was  developed,  one  of  the  car- 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand,  187 

riages  shunted,  the  passengers  being  distributed 
through  the  other  cars,  and  again  the  driver  put  his 
little  iron  horse  at  the  incline.  Half-way  up  the  brakes 
were  applied,  and  the  passenger  train  left  standing 
while  the  cattle  trucks  were  hauled  into  Makarau  sta- 
tion, I  understand.  Then  the  engine  came  back  for  us 
and  hauled  us  successfully  into  the  Makarau  tunnel. 
Here  for  some  minutes  the  engine  lay  down  to  rest 
apparently,  while  the  carriages  slowly  filled  with  sul- 
phurous smoke.  Strong  lungs  half-chocked  and  strong 
stomachs  retched  violently,  while  weaker  passengers 
almost  fainted  with  the  intolerable  stench.  Slowly 
and  at  last  the  engine  prevailed.  We  drew  clear,  and 
open  doors  and  windows  soon  restored  the  comfort  of 
passengers.  Each  station  lightened  the  load,  and  at 
Te  Akaroa  the  majority  of  the  stock  trucks  were  left. 
After  this  the  engine  was  fairly  up  to  its  work  and 
made  satisfactory  progress.  But  from  Helensville  to 
Hotea,  a  distance  of  27  miles,  the  time  taken  was  three 
hours  at  the  rate  of  nine  miles  per  hour.  And  why? 
The  time-table?  Fault  of  the  men?  Certainly  not! 
The  cause  of  delay  is  the  ridiculous  little  toy  engine 
employed  on  the  line,  an  engine  which  is  utterly  in- 
adequate to  the  work  required  of  it.  On  no  other  line 
in  the  world,  with  our  traffic,  would  such  a  Puffing- 
Billy  be  tolerated,  and  it  should  long  since  have  been 
relegated  to  working  in  a  quarry  or  on  a  timber  tram, 
if  indeed  its  vagaries  do  not  entitle  it  to  a  place  on  the 
scrap-heap.  But  our  long  suffering  Northern  public 
seem  never  to  learn  the  lesson  of  the  unjust  judge: 
'Because  this  woman  troubleth  me  will  I  arise  and 
avenge  her  of  her  enemies." 

"Roydworth," — J,  H.  Hudson,  Hoteo. 

If  I  wanted  to  take  up  the  space  with  per- 
sonal matters  I  could  parallel  either  of  the 
above  letters  with  my  experiences  with  their 


188         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

national  tourist  agency  and  my  reception  at 
the  station  at  midnight  on  their  famous  river. 

But  now  we  will  fall  back  on  their  most  en- 
thusiastic advocate,  my  authority,  as  to  the 
success  of  their  state  owned  and  conducted 
railroads:  "An  average  of  two  millions  of  dol- 
lars a  year  of  the  general  revenue  is  appropri- 
ated to  railroads." 

''When  I  was  there  (my  authority)  the  de- 
partment had  just  bought  twelve  thirty-eight- 
ton  American  locomotives  for  1,650  pounds 
delivered  at  Wellington,  and  ten  sixty-ton 
engines  for  2,000  pounds;  the  same  locomo- 
tives bought  in  England  cost  3,150  pounds,  and 
built  in  New  Zealand  (state  work  shops)  just 
twice  as  much  as  the  American  article — 4,000 
pounds." 

''None  of  the  Australasian  governments 
(Australasia  includes  New  Zealand)  make 
both  ends  meet  in  their  railroads.  None  of 
them  are  able  to  pay  out  of  the  receipts  of  the 
railroads  the  full  interest  on  the  money  bor- 
rowed to  build  them.  The  tax  payers  have  to 
go  down  into  their  pockets  every  year  to  make 
the  deficit  good.  In  New  Zealand  in  1898  the 
roads  earned  three  per  cent  over  anything  but 
the  interest  charge;  and  if  the  railroad  bonds 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand,  189 

were  bearing  only  three  per  cent  interest  the 
receipts  would  show  a  profit  over  interest  too 
of  .029,  but  the  fact  that  some  of  the  bonds 
carry  four  per  cent  and  more  prevents  this 
showing  of  profit." 

Query  by  Diven:  What  would  be  the  deficit 
if  the  roads  were  run  with  the  accommodations 
they  are  in  the  United  States? 

Much  is  made  by  him  in  several  pages  of 
printed  matter  on  the  absence  of  discrimina- 
tion between  shippers.    Let  us  see : 

''Rates  favoring  producers  shipping  for  ex- 
port are  an  acknowledged  feature  of  the  rail- 
road management  all  through  Australasia." 

"On  the  other  hand  freight  from  America, 
France  or  Germany  pays  a  higher  rate  than 
their  own  produce.  This  in  addition  to  a  high 
tariff." 

"We  can  afford  to  help  the  men  who  are 
producers  if  we  make  it  up  on  the  men  who 
drink  the  tea  and  buy  the  dry  goods.  So  we 
make  the  merchandise  pay  and  favor  the  pro- 
ducers." 

"The  commissioner  of  railroads  has  power 
to  make  special  rates  for  persons  and  places 
he  thinks  it  desirable  to  foster,  as  in  the  case 
of  new  districts  or  enterprises  operated  under 


190         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

certain  disadvantages,  such  as  a  great  distance 
from  market. " 

"The  New  Zealand  railroad  tariff  is  literally 
a  protective  tariff.  The  protective  freight 
rate  against  imported  paper  bags  and  in  favor 
of  the  domestic  article  is  almost  double,  and  so 
on  with  other  things." 

''Materials  for  making  roads  pay  only  half 
the  regular  rates,  because  roads  are  feeders 
for  the  railroads."  And  then  a  page  of  other 
differentials. 

"Towns  with  water  facilities  get  freights 
and  fares  at  competitive  rates.  Those  depend- 
ent upon  the  railroads  alone  receive  no  such 
concessions. ' ' 

If  all  the  above  do  not  constitute  discrimina- 
tion I  do  not  understand  the  English  language. 

"New  Zealand  freight  rates  are  of  course 
high  in  comparison  with  ours." 

"The  New  Zealand  railways  are  in  some 
respects  almost  primitive.  They  can  be  shown 
to  be  inferior  to  the  roads  of  Europe  and 
America  in  speed  and  comfort." 

"The  scientific  traveler  could  fill  a  volume 
with  the  complaints  which  he  could  gather 
from  the  remonstrances  of  railway  reform 
leagues,  deputations  to  the  premier  and  minis- 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  191 

ter  for  railways,  from  the  debates  in  parlia- 
ment and  from  individuals  with  private 
grievances." 

"None  of  the  traveling  accommodations  of 
New  Zealand  are  what  could  be  described  as 
luxurious,  and  those  that  have  been  provided 
for  the  second  class  are  primitive  in  the  ex- 
treme. Narrow,  uncushioned  seats,  bare  floors, 
draughty  doors  and  windows,  make  the  cars 
cheerless  and  uncomfortable,  though  in  New 
Zealand  as  elsewhere  the  majority  of  the 
travelers  are  second  class." 

Justice  compels  the  writer  of  this  book  to 
state  that  those  narrow,  hard  seats  have  been 
covered  with  pieces  of  carpet.  Otherwise 
there  has  been  no  change  since  authority 
wrote. 

"There  are  no  air  brakes  even  on  the  ex- 
press trains  in  New  Zealand.  There  is  no  cord 
between  the  passenger  cars  and  the  conductor 
and  engineer.  There  were  no  dining  cars  when 
I  was  there,  though  they  have  since  been  put 
on.  The  rates  are  high,  but  what  the  traveler 
or  the  shipper  pays  the  treasury  gets." 

"One  of  the  commissioners  whose  power  is 
of  the  greatest  since  he  has  the  power  to  make 
new  rates,  to  arrange  methods  of  appointment 


192  State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

to  places,  and  must  be  consulted  on  new  lines, 
confessed  that  his  life  was  made  a  burden  by 
the  politicians.  The  politicians  are  all  on  the 
job.  TJie  members  of  parliament  are  simply 
commission  agents  for  their  constituents." 

''Libraries  of  criticism  and  of  statistical 
comparisons  to  prove  that  freight  rates  are 
much  higher  and  accommodations  poorer  than 
those  of  countries  which  enjoy  the  blessing  of 
private  ownership  do  not  touch  one  point  at 
least,  and  that  is  that  the  system  suits  the  New 
Zealander  better  than  any  other. ' ' 

"The  New  Zealander  thinks  the  inconveni- 
ences he  suffers  are  part  of  the  education  of 
the  democracy,  teaching  it  to  consider  the 
common  good  instead  of  individual  and  local 
self  interest,  and  he  thinks  this  lesson  worth 
all  it  has  cost  and  is  still  to  cost." 

A  drunken  man  fell  down  stairs  bumpty- 
bump,  heels  over  head,  landing  at  the  bottom 
a  collapsed  heap.  A  lady  comes  up  to  him  with 
expressions  of  sympathy.  He  looks  up  with 
surprise  and  replies:  "I  alius  comes  down 
stairs  this  way." 

Do  the  New  Zealanders  really  own  their 
rickety  travesty  of  a  railroad"?  I  think  not. 
If  so  why  do  their  laborers,  for  whose  sole 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  193 

benefit  the  whole  country  is  run,  leave  her 
shores  by  thousands?  They  do  not  own  their 
railroads,  nor  their  lands,  nor  their  telegraphs, 
nor  their  so-called  co-operative  industries.  All 
these — and  they  to  boot,  body  and  soul — are 
owned  by  the  bond  holder  in  Frankfort  and 
London.  When  he  cracks  the  whip  they  must 
dance.  With  the  largest  debt  per  capita  of  any 
people  in  the  world  hanging  over  his  head, 
never  to  be  reduced,  without  the  hope  of 
amassing  a  competence  for  his  old  age  or  to 
leave  to  his  children,  he  is  a  slave  without  even 
the  slave 's  certainty  of  bread  and  butter  until 
he  sees  the  snows  of  sixty-five  winters  on  his 
head. 

A  man  there  who  had  lived  in  the  United 
States  said  to  me:  *'Your  country  gives  a  live 
man  a  chance.  New  Zealand  gives  no  live  man 
a  chance.  Every  step  a  ma^  makes  upwards 
the  harder  they  make  it  for  him." 

The  land  in  New  Zealand  does  not  yet  all 
belong  to  the  state,  but  it  is  working  as  rapidly 
towards  that  end  as  they  can  possibly  accom- 
plish it. 

"The  minister  of  lands  has  declared  in  a 
public  speech  that  he  would  like  to  see  the  time 


194         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

when  all  the  lands  of  New  Zealand  were 
nationalized. ' ' 

"Mr.  William  Rollstone,  the  most  authori- 
tative figure  certainly  as  regards  the  lands 
question,  said  during  the  last  campaign:  'We 
shall  never  have  national  prosperity  in  New 
Zealand  until  we  nationalize  every  foot  of  its 
land.'  " 

"Both  in  the  land  and  fiscal  policy  of  New 
Zealand  since  1891  this  has  been  the  ruling 
purpose,  to  put  an  end  to  private  ownership 
of  land. ' ' 

"One  of  the  leading  officials  in  the  Land 
Department,  whose  special  work  is  the  pur- 
chase of  the  resumed  estates,  said  to  me:  'We 
have  the  choice  of  all  the  large  estates  of  New 
Zealand.  All  are  at  the  call  of  the  government. 
No  man  now  dreams  of  buying  an  estate  or 
seeking  to  build  ^ne  up  to  leave  to  his  family. 
All  that  is  a  thing  of  the  past.'  " 

"In  consequence  of  the  laws  we  have  re- 
ferred to  and  public  opinion,  speculation  in 
land  in  New  Zealand  is  dead. ' ' 

"Land  monopoly  was  the  first  to  be  at- 
tacked, and  the  first  means  of  attacking  it  was 
that  ancient  constitutional  weapon,  the  tax," 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  195 

*'The  premier  was  explicit.  The  graduation 
of  the  taxes  is  to  check  monopoly.  He  did  not 
shrink  from  raising  the  issue  between  the  rich 
and  the  poor." 

*'It  is  our  intention  gradually  to  lead  up  to 
the  pure  land  tax." 

"I  found  it  universally  avowed  in  New  Zea- 
land that  the  present  taxes  are  only  the  begin- 
ning. There  is  no  point  of  policy  for  the  future 
more  firmly  fixed  in  the  popular  mind  than 
that  these  taxes  shall  be  increased  until  they 
have  done  the  work  for  which  the  reform  was 
begun. ' ' 

"The  progressive  tax  encourages  the  land 
owner  to  sell." 

*'The  ultimate  ideal  of  the  New  Zealand 
system  is  that  the  state  shall  be  the  only  land 
owner,  the  only  free  holder." 

"As  to  the  means  by  which  the  funds  will  be 
provided  for  the  growing  pension  list,  he  said 
if  hereafter  the  burden  exceeds  our  resources 
we  will  tax  land  more,  and  I  have  already  so 
intimated." 

The  above  quotations,  all  from  my  authority, 
I  believe  to  correctly  set  forth  the  position  of 
the  government  of  New  Zealand  on  the  ques- 
tion.   But  even  at  the  time — ten  years  ago — 


196         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

penalties  were  laid  on  the  self  reliant,  enter- 
prising pioneer.  To  quote  again  from  author- 
ity: "In  the  new  laws  the  hated  freehold  is 
continued,  and  jet  it  is  not  continued.  It  is 
practically  discontinued  in  the  disposition  of 
the  private  estates  taken  back  to  be  made  into 
farms  for  the  people,  but  is  still  given  in  the 
sale  of  public  lands.  But  new  conditions  as  to 
use  and  improvement  and  area  are  imposed 
which  take  away  from  the  new  freeholds  the 
anarchistic  right  beloved  of  the  would-be  New 
England  squire  as  of  all  squires — to  do  what  I 
will  with  my  own — and  besides  these  new  re- 
strictions progressing  upon  him  from  the  rear 
come  the  never  resting  progressive  taxes." 

The  above  means  simply  that  if  you  are  will- 
ing to  go  away  back  in  the  mountains  where 
there  are  no  other  settlers,  no  proximity  to 
towns,  schools,  transportation,  churches,  no 
society  for  your  wife  and  children,  you  may 
imagine  yourself  to  be  the  owner  of  your  own 
home  until  you  have  gotten  it  nicely  improved, 
then  regardless  of  necessary  public  expenses 
your  -taxes  will  be  increased  until  crushed  by 
the  burden  you  are  glad  to  turn  it  over  to  the 
public  at  a  nominal  price,  and  that  is  just  what 
New  Zealand  has  been  doing  as  I  shall  show 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  197 

later  on.  I  was  told  there,  however,  that  now 
no  public  land  is  sold,  only  leased,  but  as  I  can 
quote  no  recognized  authorit)^  I  only  venture 
the  statement,  leaving  it  to  be  either  true  or 
not  true,  as  it  makes  no  present  difference  with 
the  tenor  of  this  chapter.  To  return  to  our 
authority: 

"No  one  is  allowed  to  buy  or  lease  more, 
either  of  the  resumed  lands  or  the  public  lands, 
than  640  acres  of  first  class  or  2,000  acres  of 
second  class  land,  nor  more  pastural  land  than 
enough  for  2,000  or  4,000  sheep.  If  he  already 
holds  that  amount  of  land  he  can  get  no  more. 
Mineral  and  oil  lands  are  reserved.  The 
government  offers  its  public  lands  by  lease  or 
sale.  But  it  offers  the  lands  it  has  had  to  buy 
compulsorily  or  amicably  on  lease  only.  But 
on  those  who  buy  and  on  those  who  lease  re- 
strictions are  imposed  to  prevent  monopoly 
and  insure  use,  restrictions  of  area  and  im- 
provements. No  one  can  attain  the  dignity  of 
state  tenant  who  cannot  pass  a  satisfactory 
examination  showing  that  he  has  the  money, 
knowledge  and  character  necessary  for  suc- 
cess. No  one  can  retain  his  farm,  whether 
bought  or  leased,  unless  he  is  found  to  be  faith- 
fully  complying  with  all  the  requirements." 


198         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand, 

"Leasehold  and  freehold  alike  are  taxable  on 
the  prairie  value.  If  the  land  tax  is  increased 
so  as  to  soak  up  all  the  unearned  increment  of 
the  freehold  it  will  also  soak  up  all  the  un- 
earned increment  of  the  leasehold. ' ' 

''It  is  equally  determined  never  to  part 
again  with  its  ownership  of  the  lands  which 
it  is  buying  back."  "No  one  has  the  right  to 
purchase,  and  therefore  there  can  be  no  specu- 
lation." 

"It  might  seem  at  a  first  glance  that  the  fact 
that  the  state  had  millions  of  acres  of  public 
lands  which  it  was  opening  to  settlement  was 
a  good  reason  for  not  buying  more  land  by  re- 
suming the  great  estates.  But  the  public  lands 
were  in  the  North  Island  in  vast  forest  wastes, 
far  from  roads,  markets  or  society.  It  would 
take  a  long  while  to  supply  this  territory  with 
the  accessories  of  trade  and  intercourse." 

That  was  the  land  they  were  satisfied  to 
turn  over  to  an  enterprising  man  until  they 
were  ready  to  confiscate  it  by  excessive  taxa- 
tion, as  above  openly  stated.  Now  as  to  some 
of  the  conditions  of  leasehold  tenure. 

"The  lease  holder  cannot  borrow  on  the  se- 
curity of  his  lease,  either  from  a  private 
banker  or  from  the  government." 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  199 

"Owners  sell  because  they  are  afraid  of  the 
graduated  tax." 

"This  gentleman  did  not  conceal  the  fact 
that  the  progressive  land  tax  was  one  of  his 
reasons  for  selling. ' '  '^ 

"He  (Mr.  Seddon,  the  premier)  declared 
himself  willing  to  have  the  process  called  con- 
fiscation, bursting  up,  anything." 

"We  propose,"  said  Wm.  P.  Reeves,  "to 
take  off  taxation  from  the  small  land  pro- 
prietors and  put  it  on  the  large  land  owners." 
Said  Mr.  Seddon,  the  premier:  "I  care  very 
little  for  the  capitalist.  I  care  not  if  dozens 
of  large  land  ow^ners  leave  the  country. ' ' 

"The  state  sometimes  puts  its  rents  too 
high.  The  procedure  for  reduction  is  cumber- 
some, and  there  is  an  agitation  for  A  Fair 
Rent  Bill.  Revaluation  is  possible  under  the 
present  system  only  upon  the  tenant's  aban- 
doning his  land." 

"The  conditions  as  to  residence  and  im- 
provement are  very  strict.  The  successful 
applicant,  to  hold  his  property,  must  begin 
residence  within  a  year,  and  within  a  year 
must  put  on  improvements  equal  to  two  and 
one-half  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  land,  and 
withm  another  year  two  and  one-half  per  cent 


200  State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

more,  and  within  the  next  four  3^ears  another 
two  and  one-half  per  cent.  He  must  have  his 
fields  fenced  in  accordance  with  stipulations 
of  the  law  within  two  years.  He  must  once  a 
year  cut  and  trim  all  the  hedges  on  his  land, 
and  must  keep  it  clear  of  all  koom,  sweet  brier 
and  other  noxious  plants.  He  must  not  take 
more  than  three  crops  from  the  same  land  in 
succession,  and  one  of  these  crops  must  be  a 
root  crop.  After  the  third  crop  he  must  put 
the  land  down  in  grass  and  let  it  remain  in 
pasture  for  at  least  three  years  before  begin- 
ning to  crop  it  again.  If  his  farm  is  more  than 
twenty  acres  he  must  keep  not  less  than  one- 
half  of  it  in  permanent  pasture.  He  is  not 
allowed  at  any  time  to  remove  from  the  land 
or  burn  any  straw  which  is  grown  upon  it.  If 
the  tenant  neglects  these  and  some  other  less 
important  conditions  the  land  commissioner 
will  have  the  work  done  for  him  and  the  cost 
of  it  is  made  recoverable  in  the  same  way  as 
the  rent.  Some  of  the  old-fashioned  people 
used  to  the  immunities  of  the  freehold  resent 
the  inspections  of  their  premises  necessary  to 
insure  their  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the 
leases.  'It  is  a  good  deal  like  being  at  school 
again,'  one  of  them  complained.    The  Ranger 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  201 

is  the  title  of  the  inspector  of  leasehold  pro- 
perties. *If  you  find  the  ranger  in  your  gar- 
den', a  leasehold  said  sarcastically,  'counting 
the  gooseberries  you  mustn't  mind  it.  It's 
part  of  the  system.'  " 

"In  this  district  the  farmer  makes  the  road 
to  his  farm  with  an  American  pick  and  shovel, 
he  puts  in  his  wheat  with  an  American  drill, 
he  reaps  it  with  an  American  reaper  and 
binder,  he  pumps  the  water  for  his  harvest 
hands  through  an  American  pump,  he  takes 
his  wheat  to  a  mill  where  the  intricate  ma- 
chinery is  American,  he  drives  around  town  in 
a  buggy  that  is  mostly  American,  his  timber  is 
cut  with  an  American  ax,  the  hammer  that 
drove  the  nails  in  his  house  was  an  American 
hammer,  his  saw  was  American,  and  finally  his 
wheat  rolls  into  Wellington  behind  an  Amer- 
ican locomotive." 

Now  let  us  see  what  will  be  the  inevitable 
result  of  all  this.  I  believe  that  I  can  lay  it 
down  as  an  uncontroverted  principle  of  eco- 
nomics that  where  a  man  is  not  reasonably 
sure  of  the  reward  of  his  labor  he  will  not 
work.  The  only  exceptions  to  this  are  the 
head  tax  and  forced  labor  under  the  overseer's 
whip,  the  instruments  of  the  autocrat  through 


202         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

all  time.  The  pioneer  going  into  the  back- 
woods of  New  Zealand  can  not  look  forward 
to  retiring  in  his  old  age  and  living  upon  the 
rental  of  his  land,  his  reward  for  many  years 
of  labor  constantly  returned  to  the  soil  to  en- 
hance its  value,  nor  can  he  hope  to  turn  it  over 
to  his  children  that  they  may  find  life  easier 
on  account  of  his  labors.  Knowing  that  he  is 
to  be  expelled  from  the  ground  he  cultivates 
no  affection  for  it.  He  will  neither  plant 
orchards,  fine  trees,  build  good  houses  or 
barns.  He  will  become  a  herdsman  like  a 
Navajo  Indian  or  a  Sahara  Bedouin  on  com- 
munal property,  as  only  his  herds  will  be  his 
own.  He  will  be  a  tenant  at  the  will  of  the 
landlord — the  state — and  will  give  it  only  a 
tenant's  care.  Nor  will  he  have  more  love  for 
the  country  which  only  insures  him  his  grave, 
and  not  even  that  beside  his  loved  ones,  as  they 
will  be  expelled  and  be  wanderers. 

In  Illinois  a  very  large  tract  of  land  at  one 
time  was  owned  by  a  rich  Londoner  of  Irish 
name.  The  ground  of  wonderful  fertility  was 
leased  to  tenants  for  cultivation.  He  was  a 
good  landlord  as  landlords  go.  His  ground 
was  well  tiled,  his  rents  reasonable,  and  his 
tenants  were  assured  of  holding  their  places  as 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  203 

long  as  they  lived  and  paid  rent.  His  tenants 
prospered  and  saved  money.  Yet,  as  was  com- 
monly remarked,  one  could  tell  his  territory  as 
soon  as  the  boundary  was  passed  in  the  poor 
improvements,  shabby  cultivation  and  gener- 
ally discouraging  air  of  the  neighborhood.  His 
tenants  openly  asserted  that  they  would  not 
try  to  add  to  the  value  of  another  man's 
ground.  As  a  rule  they  only  farmed  long 
enough  to  save  some  money  to  buy  their  own 
ground,  even  if  it  lay  in  far-off  Kansas,  Ne- 
braska or  Dakota. 

This  is  just  what  is  happening  in  New  Zea- 
land. Nobody  is  planting  orchards  or  building 
up  fine  farms.  Except  for  a  small  tract  just 
south  of  Auckland,  probably  an  old  freehold 
settlement,  everything  throughout  the  coun- 
try has  a  hopeless  abandoned  look;  you  feel 
that  it  is  incurable.  These  lines  are  written 
at  Brownsville,  Texas,  the  most  southern  town 
on  the  mainland  of  the  United  States,  a  region 
which  has  had  a  railroad  less  than  five  years. 
It  is  now  in  the  midst  of  a  boom.  Thousands 
of  families  are  living  in  tents  and  shacks, 
while  interspersed  are  the  beautiful  homes  of 
those  who  can  start  that  way.  The  climate  is 
worse,  the  scenery  not  so  beautiful  nor  the  soil 


204         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

so  good  as  in  New  Zealand.  Everything  must 
be  irrigated  to  produce  at  all,  and  yet  hun- 
dreds of  acres  are  being  planted  to  oranges, 
figs,  grapes  and  pecans.  Every  step  is  quick, 
every  eye  ardent,  every  jesture  buoyant.  The 
whole  atmosphere  is  full  of  enterprise  and 
hopefulness.  Not  a  croak  nor  a  discordant 
note  is  heard.  What  do  these  Texas  planters 
look  forward  to  that  those  of  New  Zealand  do 
nof?  Why  this  greater  courage?  The  Texas 
farmer  faces  an  arid  soil,  an  unkind  sky.  He 
must  struggle  with  the  wolf,  the  coyote,  the 
fox,  skunk,  opossum,  mink,  eagle,  hawk  and 
rattle  snake.  The  malaria  he  ma}^  expect  al- 
most as  a  matter  of  course;  the  yellow  fever  is 
a  possibility  any  summer.  The  New  Zealand 
farmer  has  no  evil  to  fear  but  that  of  fatigue 
from  work. 

The  Texas  farmer,  like  every  other  Amer- 
ican farmer,  expects  his  reward.  He  is  not 
only  building  his  fortune  but  his  home.  Every 
shade  tree  he  plants,  every  rose  bush  he  sets 
out,  becomes  a  part  of  himself.  Every  nail  he 
drives,  every  stone  he  sets  is  like  the  gold  the 
dentist  puts  into  his  teeth.  His  hands  grow 
large  and  caloused,  his  shoulders  bent  with 
approaching  years.    It  was  his  own  burden  he 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.  205 

has  been  carrying.  Like  labor  and  self  deny- 
ing for  sake  of  children  he  has  not  considered 
his  efforts.  He  sees  and  feels  the  results. 
There  are  only  two  places  in  all  the  world — 
his  home  and  the  rest  of  the  world.  He  feels 
his  place  to  cover  him  like  his  clothes.  Even 
in  his  sleep  he  feels  the  protecting  influence 
of  his  soil.  His  animals  are  his  relatives,  every 
twig  on  the  place  a  fibre  of  his  body.  He  may 
sell  the  place.  He  realizes  the  fruits  of  his 
labors,  but  his  feelings  tow^ards  the  old  farm 
are  those  of  a  farmer  who  has  seen  his  daugh- 
ter marry  and  go  out  among  strangers,  or  a  son 
who  has  left  the  homestead  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness elsewhere.  Out  of  his  possession  it  is  still 
a  part  of  his  body.  Sickness  or  disability  may 
come ;  he  may  go  blind,  he  may  lose  an  arm  or 
a  leg,  his  wife  may  break  down,  his  farm  is 
still  his  livelihood.  He  rents  it  to  another  and 
still  gets  a  share  of  its  products.  Age  may 
come  and  feeling  that  he  can  no  longer  stand 
the  labor  as  once  he  did,  he  may  desire  to  go  to 
some  town  and  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life 
free  from  those  eternal  cares.  x\gain  he  rents 
the  i^lace,  and  with  its  rental  feels  as  secure  of 
honorable  bread  as  a  man  can  feel  in  this  life. 
He  has  justly  earned  his  leisure,  and  no  one 


206  State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

should  begrudge  him  in  it.  His  savings  are  in 
his  farm,  the  best  place  they  can  possibly  be. 
In  spite  of  all  the  swindling  schemes  adver- 
tised for  the  public's  amelioration  the  best 
possible  place  for  a  man's  dollar  is  in  his  own 
pocket. 

In  this  little  Brownsville  hotel  where  I  am 
stopping  is  an  old  retired  farmer  accomj)anied 
by  his  wife.  He  is  seventy-three  years  old. 
His  wife,  with  whom  he  has  shared  the  storms 
and  sunshine  of  forty-seven  years,  has  borne 
him  fourteen  children.  His  father  was  a 
pioneer  in  Kentucky,  he  a  pioneer  in  the 
southern  part  of  Missouri,  from  there  moving 
and  becoming  a  pioneer  in  the  Panhandle  of 
Texas,  taking  there  four  sections  of  land 
which  he  built  up  for  seventeen  years  and  then 
sold,  investing  the  proceeds  in  the  town  of 
Amarillo,  where  he  built  both  business  and 
residence  houses,  whose  rental  now  enables 
him  to  rest  and  once  a  year  see  a  little  of  the 
rest  of  the  world.  For  eighteen  years  after  the 
Civil  war  he  was  totally  blind.  He  is  now 
almost  wholly  deaf,  but  can  see  enough  out  of 
one  eye  to  read  and  observe  things  in  the 
world.  In  intellect  keen  and  bright,  enjoying 
life  to  the  utmost.    A  Confederate  soldier  of 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.         207 

the  slave-holding  class,  he  was  considered  by 
the  abolitionists  as  deseriing  hanging  in  this 
world  and  eternal  damnation  in  the  next.  Now 
as  a  capitalist  and  landlord  he  deserves  confis- 
caton  and  pauperism  in  the  eyes  of  our  social- 
ists and  the  New  Zealand  politicians.  His 
Confederate  badge  says  "God  Judges".  I 
will  judge  him  this  far  as  to  say  that  he  de- 
serves every  cent  he  has  gotten,  and  I  hope 
that  both  he  and  his  noble  wife  will  long  live  to 
enjoy  their  trips  to  the  winter  resorts  of  the 
Mexican  Gulf. 

The  New  Zealand  farmer  when  he  gets  old 
or  breaks  down  must  turn  his  leasehold  back 
to  the  state,  step  out  without  anything,  and 
wait  until  he  gets  to  be  sixty-five  years  old  to 
get  his  dollar  and  a  half  per  week  as  a  pauper. 
He  may  sell  his  sheep  for  a  large  sum  in  ready 
money  when  he  parts  with  his  land,  but  what 
will  he  do  with  his  money  in  a  country  where  a 
capitalist  is  a  malefactor?  The  best  place  for 
a  man's  savings  is  in  his  own  land.  He  may 
either  spend  his  money  and  join  the  universal 
army  of  paupers,  or  he  may  emigrate  to  Eng- 
land, Canada  or  the  United  States,  where  he 
may  still  live  on  the  proceeds  of  his  youthful 
industry  and  providence,  and  that  is  what  he 


208         State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

is  doing.  On  our  boat  returning  was  a  New- 
Zealand  farmer  going  to  Canada  to  live.  He 
stated  that  farm  lands  had  depreciated  over 
one-half  in  value,  that  the  man  who  purchased 
his  farm  two  years  previous  could  not  noAv 
sell  it  for  over  two-thrids  as  much  as  he  paid 
for  it.  He  claimed  the  same  to  be  true  of  all 
town  and  city  property  as  well. 

The  writer,  who  was  taught  in  his  boyhood 
to  bear  hardships  in  youth  that  one  may  live 
at  ease  in  his  old  age,  believes  such  to  be  the 
immutable  law  of  nature.  The  children  of 
New  Zealand  are  taught  the  blessings  of  pau- 
perization as  they  are  taught  religion,  and  that 
is  what  they  will  get.  It  is  now  and  will  for- 
ever remain  the  paradise  of  paupers  and  fat 
office  holders. 

Much  has  been  made  by  the  New  Zealanders 
and  by  authority  over  the  forced  sale  and  sub- 
division into  small  tracts  of  several  large  land 
holdings.  We  hear  at  great  length  of  the 
greater  advantage  of  a  thousand  small  lease- 
holders where  wandered  the  sheep  of  a  single 
master.  Granted.  It  is  what  has  been  done 
in  the  United  States  ever  since  the  revolution, 
is  what  is  now  being  done  all  over  the  United 
States,  and  what  will  be  done  all  over  the 


State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand.         209 

United  States  while  our  present  form  of  gov- 
ernment lasts;  only  we  make  one  hundred 
owners  instead  of  one  without  legislative  en- 
actment, and  by  the  natural  laws  of  supply 
and  demand.  Life  is  very  short.  The  owner 
dies,  his  heirs  are  away  in  other  business,  and 
the  old  farm  is  sold  and  divided  to  be  sold 
again  to  small  farmers.  Or  the  OAvner,  too  old 
to  work  longer,  performs  that  act  himself,  ex- 
pecting and  getting  no  praise  therefor.  In- 
stead of  one  careful  owner  in  New  Zealand 
there  becomes  no  oAvner  at  all,  but  a  crowd  of 
careless  pauper  tenants,  while  they  shout  and 
advertise  the  transaction  to  the  entire  world. 
This  seems  too  trivial  even  to  refer  to,  and  I 
would  not  do  so  but  for  the  thousands  of  pages 
that  have  been  printed  on  that  subject  con- 
cerning New  Zealand.  Instead  of  putting  a 
halo  around  the  head  of  the  man  who  accom- 
plishes that  in  the  United  States  he  is  uni- 
versally dubbed  a  shark. 

As  to  all  the  minor  matters,  such  as  state 
life  insurance,  old-age  pension,  state  banking, 
etc.,  etc.,  I  did  not  sufficiently  investigate  to 
pass  an  opinion  upon.  I  am  not  prepared  to 
say  they  are  all  good  or  that  they  are  all  bad, 
nor  to  say  which  ones  are  good  or  bad.  Enough 


210  State  Socialism  in  New  Zealand. 

was  learned  to  ascertain  that  the  state  was 
grasping  into  its  own  hand  one  enterprise 
after  another,  with  the  determination  to  ulti- 
mately be  doing  everything  by  what  is  called 
state  co-operation.  Authority,  however,  quotes 
without  dissent  the  opinion  of  a  leading  digni- 
tary of  the  church  of  New  Zealand  that  the 
co-operative  works  are  more  costly  than  the  old 
system.  Taken  collectively,  however,  I  will 
assert  that  they  are  strangling  in  its  infancy 
the  prospects  of  the  fairest  country  now 
known.  • 


"Look  to  Home."  211 


CHAPTER  IX. 
**LookToHome". 

Our  country  has  a  New  Zealand,  perhaps 
more  than  one;  I  will  only  refer  to  the  place 
with  which  I  have  been  identified  for  thirty- 
nine  years,  and  in  a  measure  ever  since  I  was 
born — Chicago. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  the  British  consul 
officially  reported  to  his  government  that  Chi- 
cago was  destined  to  become  the  largest  city 
in  the  world.  Every  writer  or  speaker  who 
ever  referred  to  the  matter  spoke  of  its  situa- 
tion unparalleled  in  either  the  ancient  or 
modern  world.  Rockefeller,  desiring  to  be 
identified  with  the  greatest,  chose  it  as  the  seat 
of  his  imiversity,  which  was  to  eclipse  in 
wealth  and  equipment  anything  in  the  line  the 
world  had  ever  seen  or  ever  would  see.  The 
growth  of  its  population  was  marvelous    It 


212  "Look  to  Home." 

was  commonly  referred  to  as  the  large  city  of 
the  entire  world  where  the  workingman  was 
best  clothed,  best  fed,  best  housed  and  best 
paid.  A  prominent  New  Yorker  talking  with 
me  about  the  matter  referred  to  the  airy, 
sunny  little  cottages  owned  by  the  laborer  in 
Chicago  and  his  cheaper  food,  and  said:  ''In 
time  that  is  going  to  make  itself  felt.  The 
laborer  is  going  to  live  where  his  welfare  is 
greatest.  New  York  cannot  and  never  will 
equal  Chicago  in  that  respect.  I  consider  our 
town  out  of  the  race."  The  workman  himself 
was  imbued  with  that  spirit.  First  he  desired 
to  get  his  own  home.  That  made  secure  he 
looked  around  for  vacant  property  upon  which 
to  build  some  houses  to  rent.  He  knew  of 
many  cases  where  the  artisan  without  leaving 
his  bench  had  accumulated  an  income  of  from 
three  to  six  thousand  dollars  a  year  by  his 
judicious  investment  in  houses  and  lots  and 
business  property.  It  was  the  common  expres- 
sion: "You  cannot  lie  about  Chicago;  she  out- 
does the  wildest  statement  you  can  make." 
The  term  "Windy  City"  was  not  given  to  it  on 
account  of  the  movement  of  the  air  at  that 
place.  It  is  no  more  windy  in  Chicago  than 
elsewhere.    It  was  given  on  account  of  the  pro- 


"Look  to  Home."  213 

pensity  of  its  men  to  blow  about  its  greatness. 
Wlien  away  from  home  every  citizen  or  sub- 
urbanite was  proud  to  register  from  and  claim 
to  belong  to  Chicago. 

And  now? 

From  1880  to  1890  Chicago  increased  at  the 
rate  of  60,000  per  year.  From  1890  to  1900  it 
increased  at  the  same  rate,  60,000  per  year. 
The  government  census  has  just  been  taken 
for  the  year  1910.  The  growth  of  Chicago  has 
dropped  from  60,000  per  year  to  45,000  per 
year.  Leaving  out  all  questions  of  percentage 
the  normal  increase  of  population  should  have 
been  65,000  each  year.  Civic  pride  has  dropped 
out  of  sight.  To  register  now  from  Chicago  is 
to  stamp  one  as  being  a  commercial  traveler  or 
a  workman  hunting  a  job.  It  is  now  Oak  Park, 
Evanston,  Lake  Forest,  etc.,  etc.  If  one  now 
has  a  city  residence  and  a  country  place  he 
registers  from  the  latter.  He  may  be  a  promi- 
nent Chicago  merchant,  but  your  chance 
traveling  acquaintance  takes  pride  in  tellmg 
you  he  does  not  live  in  Chicago.  At  home 
almost  every  man  who  wants  to  live  sensibly 
and  wisely  is  getting  out  of  the  city  into  the 
surrounding  country.  It  amounts  almost  to  an 
exodus;  it  would  be  an  exodus  if  the  men  had 


2U  "Look  to  Home." 

their  way.  Thousands  of  families  are  kept  in 
the  city  by  the  women's  overwhelming  fond- 
ness for  the  dissipations  of  city  life.  The  men 
say  a  butcher  shop  is  a  necessary  place,  but  it 
does  not  necessarily  follow  that  a  man  should 
live  in  a  butcher  shop. 

Another  result  has  followed.  The  workman 
has  lost  all  ambition,  even  all  desire  to  buy 
property,  to  own  a  home  or  any  property  in 
Chicago.  Although  values  on  vacant  lots  have 
fallen  from  one-half  to  two-thirds,  the  lower 
it  gets  the  less  he  or  any  other  person  is  in- 
clined to  buy.  Offer  a  lot  to  a  workman  so  low 
that  the  taxes  upon  it  amount  to  six  per  cent 
of  its  selling  price  he  will  tell  you:  ''I  figure  it 
out  that  if  you  were  to  give  me  the  lot  I  would 
be  making  a  bad  bargain."  Property  has  got- 
ten so  low  in  price  that  many  persons  have  told 
the  writer  that  after  selling  their  vacant  lots 
they  went  to  pay  accrued  taxes  and  found  the 
taxes  were  fully  six  per  cent  of  the  price  they 
had  received  therefor.  The  usual  rate  upon 
improved  property  is  two  per  cent  of  selling 
price,  on  vacant  from  three  per  cent  to  four 
per  cent,  that  is  upon  the  more  favorable 
assessment.  It  amounts  to  this,  that  the  cit)' 
has  confiscated  all  the  real  property  within  its 


"Look  to  Home."  215 

limits.  Owners  are  paying  full  interest  upon 
the  value  thereof,  although  it  may  be  AvhoUy 
non-income  producing.  But  the  nominal  holder 
of  the  fee  must  still  pay  all  assessments  for 
improvements  spread  in  the  neighborhood. 
These  have  been  so  numerous  and  so  great  that 
it  is  an  exceptional  lot  in  Chicago  that  will 
now  sell  for  the  amount  paid  upon  it  in  taxes 
and  assessments  during  the  past  sixteen  years. 
In  improved  property  nothiog  is  left  for  the 
owner.  A  friend  of  mine  about  five  years  ago 
built  within  a  block  of  one  of  the  great  parks 
five  cottages  containing  bath  and  sanitary 
plumbing,  hot  and  cold  water,  gas  for  cooking 
and  lighting,  hard  wood  floors,  picture  frame 
mouldings,  drawers  in  closets  and  pantry,  etc., 
etc.  He  borrowed  one-half  the  cost  of  the 
buildings  only  to  assist  him  in  building.  When 
the  houses  had  been  finished  three  years  he 
struck  a  balance.  The  rents  he  had  recevied 
did  not  by  a  great  deal  equal  what  he  had  paid 
out  in  interest,  taxes,  insurance,  and  repairs. 
He  is  now  controlling  them  solely  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  tenants  and  the  tax  eaters.  His 
houses  are  a  wreck.  The  writer  has  talked 
with  many  owners  of  large  apartment  build- 
ings, and  except  in  the  most  fashionable  neigh- 


216  "Look  to  Home." 

borhoods  the  story  is  the  same.  As  a  result, 
the  apartment  buildings  are  usually  being  sold 
to  rich  innocents  living  away  from  the  city, 
who  will  find  the  honor  of  owning  Chicago 
realty  their  only  reward.  Among  the  men  who 
were  building  up  the  city  wide-spread  bank- 
ruptcy has  resulted.  Many  were  killed  under 
the  burden.  Building  has  ceased  to  be  a  busi- 
ness. One  man  who  used  to  build  from  forty 
to  sixty  buildings  a  year  tells  me  he  would  not 
even  contemplate  the  possibility  of  ever  erect- 
ing another  structure  in  Chicago.  Only  the 
most  profound  philosophy  and  economy  in  liv- 
ing enables  a  man  to  hold  on  to  any  rented 
property  in  the  city  at  all.  Chicago  landlords, 
as  a  rule,  are  living  in  the  country  where  the 
greater  part  of  their  cost  of  living  is  taken 
from  their  gardens  and  their  domestic  ani- 
mals. They  do  not  dine  at  Rector 's  or  the  Con- 
gress Hotel. 

In  manufacturing,  no  other  stor}^  can  be 
told.  No  one  now  starts  a  large  factory  in  the 
city.  He  chooses  some  place  in  the  country 
within  easy  reach.  Many  of  the  large  facto- 
ries which  could  be  named  have  forsaken  the 
city  for  some  village.  Others  could  be  named 
that   would   gladly  go  but  for  the  expensive 


"Look  to  Home."  217 

plant  already  existing  that  would  be  an  almost 
total  loss.  Only  a  few  days  before  writing  this, 
going  to  the  City  of  Mexico  on  a  train,  I  en- 
tered into  conversation  with  a  gentleman  who 
proved  to  be  a  large  and  successful  manufac- 
turer. Learning  I  was  from  Chicago,  without 
my  mentioning  the  subject,  he  plunged  head- 
long into  the  matter.  He  ventured  the  state- 
ment that  Chicago  was  throttled  and  crippled 
for  all  time.  To  draw  him  out  I  disagreed  with 
him.  He  told  me  that  contemplating  the  estab- 
lishment there  of  a  branch  factory  to  avail 
himself  of  the  name  and  prestige,  he  had  taken 
his  wife  and  spent  four  months  of  the  last 
summer  (1910)  in  Chicago,  living  as  though  it 
were  to  be  his  home.  As  the  result  of  his 
thorough  investigation  he  concluded  that  he 
would  not  start  such  a  branch  there,  that 
under  no  consideration  would  he  invest  a  dol- 
lar in  the  place.  In  his  own  language:  "I 
could  have  bought  fine  residences  all  over  the 
South  Side  with  their  lots  for  one-half  what 
it  cost  to  build  the  house."  Rockefeller  has 
ceased  interest  in  his  university  and  closed  his 
account.  It  must  sink  or  swim  now  without 
his  further  help. 

To  what  mav  we  attribute  this  tremendous 


218  "Look  to  Home." 

revolution'?  There  has  been  no  change  in  the 
map  since  Mr.  Sadler  reported  to  his  govern- 
ment that  Chicago  would  become  the  greatest 
city  the  world  ever  saw.  The  tariff  walls  have 
not  been  moved  nearer;  no  great  convulsion  of 
nature  has  put  an  impassable  gulf  between  it 
and  the  great  West;  no  pestilence,  no  great 
flood  or  earthquake  has  occurred  to  destroy 
life  or  property.  The  oldest  man  born  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  has  never  seen  a  failure  of 
the  crojjs.  The  only  war,  the  one  with  decrepit 
Spain,  merely  brought  increased  prestige  and 
trade.  Neither  in  thought  nor  habit  have  the 
sons  born  in  that  vast  interior  empire  become 
degenerate.  While  Chicago  real  property  has 
fallen  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  ]3er  cent  the 
lands  around  it  have  trebled  and  quadrupled 
in  values. 

By  all  the  rules  Chicago  ought  still  to  be  the 
Mecca  of  all  the  hopeful  in  the  United  States. 
No  other  city  has  advanced  further  in  Henry 
Georgeism.  Nowhere  is  socialism  more 
strongly  founded.  The  whole  city  is  a  seeth- 
ing, boiling  pot  of  altruistic  ideas.  The 
preachers  have  quit  preaching  Christianity 
and  preach  only  socialistic  ideas.  The  clergy- 
man who  is  most  radical  in  that  direction  is 


"Look  to  Home."  219 

the  one  most  popular  and  who  gets  his  name 
most  often  in  the  daily  papers.  Those  papers 
themselves,  with  possibly  a  single  exception, 
have  swallowed  socialism  whole,  and  each 
tries  to  outdo  the  other  in  its  advocacy  of  con- 
fiscation. To  one  great  paper  a  correspondent 
wrote  advocating  raising  the  taxes  so  high 
that  no  one  could  afford  to  pay  taxes  on  real 
13roperty,  and  that  it  all,  without  new  laws  or 
legal  proceedings,  would  revert  to  the  state. 
The  paper  published  the  letter,  and  others  of 
similar  tenor  since.  Another,  a  property 
owner,  called  attention  in  a  letter  that  on  some 
of  his  unimproved  property  his  tax  receipts 
showed  that  he  was  paying  two  and  one-half 
times  as  much  as  twent}^  years  before,  while 
he  could  not  sell  the  same  for  one-half  as  much 
as  then.  The  same  paper  refused  to  publish 
this  letter.  According  to  published  list  there 
are  twenty-seven  social  centers  supported  in 
the  town,  practically  all  teaching  insurrection 
against  wealth  and  landlordism.  Some  of  them 
are  hotbeds  of  unrest,  sedition  and  lawbreak- 
ing.  Millions  upon  millions  are  being  spent  to 
provide  club  houses,  play  grounds  and  other 
public  entertainments  for  the  laboring  classes. 
A  member  of  the  South  Park  Board  said  they 


220  "Look  to  Home." 

had  in  a  few  years  spent  ten  millions  of  dollars 
upon  cement  play  houses  that  were  already 
falling  to  pieces.  Since  beginning  this  book  an 
outer-park  system  has  been  voted  that  will 
cost  twenty  millions  of  dollars  or  more.  The  tax 
payer  has  become  a  negligible  quantity.  The 
worst  argument  you  can  urge  against  any 
measure  is  that  it  will  place  new  burdens  on 
the  property  holders. 

Henry  Georgeism  is  a  doctrine  that  pecu- 
liarly appeals  to  the  office  holders.  There  is 
a  fascination  in  spending  other  people's 
money,  and  it  is  so  much  nicer  when  you  can 
feel  that  the  more  taxes  you  impose  on  the 
people  the  more  you  are  benefiting  them.  It 
is  a  poor  political  job  where  the  rakeoff  is  not 
half  the  amount  spent.  Of  course  the  writer 
will  not  say  that  everything  promoted  by  the 
office  holders  is  inadvisable.  "Vixi  fortes  ante 
Agamemnon".  Before  excessive  taxation  on 
lands  was  taught  as  a  religions  duty  we  laid 
out  and  paid  for  a  magnificent  park  system 
and  boulevard  system;  afterwards  we  had  the 
public  library  and  a  better  school  system  than 
now.  Only  the  property  owner  was  not  then 
considered  a  robber  and  an  oppressor,  a  new 


"Look  to  Home."  221 

slave  holder  to  be  deprived  of  his  holdings  re- 
gardless of  all  laws,  human  or  divine. 

This  theory  has  now  been  in  practice  for 
eighteen  years.  We  will  srj  nothing  here 
about  the  confiscation  of  vacant  lands,  the 
bankruptcy  of  its  owners  and  the  enforced 
exile  of  so  many  citizens.  We  will  take  note, 
however,  that  while  so  much  was  formerly 
heard  about  taking  the  unearned  increment, 
not  a  word  has  been  uttered  favoring  restor- 
ing the  one-half  value  lost  in  depreciation; 
that  while  the  vacant  land  was  confiscated 
they  never  confiscated  the  mortgages  that 
covered  so  much  of  it.  We  will  consider  the 
laborer,  for  whose  sole  benefit  the  whole  city 
of  Chicago  has  been  conducted  for  nearly  two 
decades,  what  Henry  Georgeism,  the  twenty- 
seven  social  centers,  the  socialistic  preachers 
and  the  high-taxing  politicians  have  done  for 
him.  All  authorities  unite  in  stating  that  the 
people  of  Chicago  as  a  whole  are  now  living  in 
a  state  of  congestion  and  degradation  not  sur- 
passed in  any  city  on  earth.  Said  Dr.  Gim- 
saulus  in  a  sermon  recently:  "In  Chicago  the 
poverty  is  more  dire  and  the  indigence  more 
foul  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world."  The 
Chicago  Tribune  about  the  same  time  pub- 


222  ''Look  to  Home." 

lished  an  interview  with  a  number  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  storage  houses.  It  was  the  revala- 
tion  by  all  of  them  that  every  year  the  first  of 
May  saw  more  and  more  families  store  their 
furniture  and  take  to  rooms.  In  their  words: 
"They  say  they  intend  to  get  the  furniture 
again  and  go  to  house  keeping,  but  they  sel- 
dom or  never  do."  Last  year  the  United  States 
government  took  the  census  in  Chicago.  The 
same  daily  paper  published  an  article  derived 
from  the  united  impressions  of  the  census 
takers  that  Chicago  had  become  a  city  of  fami- 
lies living  in  one  room.  Strange  tales  of  the 
present  condition  of  affairs  keep  breaking  out ; 
of  the  single  rooms  holding  three  and  four 
families;  of  forty  men  and  women  sleeping  in 
one  room;  of  the  wet,  dark  cellars  occupied  as 
living  places  by  widows  and  children ;  of  fami- 
lies occupying  rooms  so  dark  that  on  the 
brightest  day  in  summer  lights  must  be 
burned  from  morning  until  night;  of  habits 
resulting  therefrom  that  place  its  participants 
on  the  level  of  beasts.  I  know  personally  of 
eight  or  ten  men  sleeping  on  the  bare  floors  of 
small  rooms,  not  lodging  houses  but  rented 
property ;  of  families  who  formerly  lived  in  six 
rooms  occupying  only  one;  of  American  fami- 


"Look  to  Home."  223 

lies  of  apparent  refinement,  consisting  of 
father,  mother,  grown  daughter  and  son,  all 
living  together  within  the  same  four  walls. 
Intelligent  American  women,  the  mothers  of 
several  children,  upon  whom  wc  would  at  once 
say  the  future  of  the  country  rests,  have  come 
to  me  crying,  telling  me  that  they  could  find 
nothing  within  their  means  fit  for  animals  to 
live  in,  let  alone  rearing  American  children. 
All  this  in  the  chief  city  on  the  boundless 
plains  of  Illinois,  still  a  pioneer  state  of  the 
great  new  republic.  And  with  all  this  there 
comes  a  feeling  expressed  in  the  everyday 
phrase:  "Nothing  matters  much."  To  one 
who  knows  Chicago  these  words  mean  vol- 
umes. In  addition  to  this  they  have  rendered 
the  city  impossible  of  habitation  for  200,000 
people. 

I  am  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the 
settlement  question  in  Chicago  to  thoroughly 
discuss  their  influence.  Aside  from  their  chari- 
table works,  if  they  do  really  perform  chari- 
table works,  I  believe  their  teachings  to  be 
pernicious.  Backed  as  they  are  by  a  swarm  of 
cheap  magazines  and  socialistic  newspapers, 
their  influence  is  subversive  rather  than  up- 
building.    I  am  corroborated  in  this  by  the 


224  "Look  to  Home." 

opinions  of  many  men  of  real  worth  and  of 
numerous  clergymen,  although  I  pay  little 
attention  to  the  opinions  of  the  latter.  As  to 
their  charitable  works,  I  am  told  by  persons 
better  informed  that  they  themselves  are 
objects  of  charity,  affording  sustenance  to 
non-producers;  that  like  the  brotherhoods  of 
the  middle  ages,  with  the  same  objects,  they 
give  an  easy  living  to  their  promoters;  that 
anyone  has  only  to  start  a  social  settlement 
and  then  start  out  begging. 

As  to  the  politicians  and  office  holders  I  can 
speak  with  more  assurance.  All  their  expendi- 
tures have  been  prefaced  with  the  arguments 
that  they  were  made  for  the  benefit  of  the 
laboring  classes.  That  this  talk  always  goes 
down  shows  the  inherent  gullibility  of  human 
nature.  Every  bit  of  local  legislation  in  Chi- 
cago during  the  past  twenty  years  has  directly 
tended  to  increase  the  burdens  of  the  man  of 
moderate  means.  Then  the  cost  of  a  permit 
for  a  one-story  cottage  was  from  one  to  three 
dollars;  now  it  is  six  dollars  and  upwards. 
Then  it  cost  three  dollars  to  tap  the  water 
pipe ;  now  it  costs  five.  Then  it  cost  three  dol- 
lars to  connect  with  the  sewer;  now  it  costs 
five.    For  nearly  forty  years  outlying  districts 


"Look  to  Home."  225 

contributed  their  taxes  towards  paying  the  en- 
tire cost  of  putting  in  the  sewers  of  the  most 
expensive  parts  of  the  North  and  South  Sides. 
This  being  done,  the  common  council  decided 
to  put  them  all  in  by  special  assessments  levied 
only  upon  the  lots  draining  into  same,  the  city 
not  even  bearing  cost  of  street  intersections  or 
to  carry  off  flood  waters.  The  much  talked  of 
laborer  living  in  his  little  cottage,  or  with  his 
vacant  lot,  was  paying  special  assessments  for 
three  sewers  at  the  same  time;  one  a  half  a 
mile  away,  another  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away, 
and  the  one  in  front  of  his  own  lot.  When  the 
ordinance  was  first  passed  experts  estimated 
that  it  would  cost  each  lot  owner  about  fifteen 
dollars,  and  that  even  that  amount  was  three- 
fourths  unjust.  It  cost,  on  an  average,  every 
lot  owner  from  $60  to  $70.  The  $5,000  lot  was 
sewered  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  city;  the 
$200  lot  had  to  pay  over  $60  for  same  service, 
and  of  that  unjust  levy  over  half  was  literally 
stolen.  A  friend  of  mine  had  several  times  ad- 
vanced under  the  old  law  money  to  put  sewers 
in  streets  where  he  owned  most  of  the  pro- 
perty. All  asked  of  him  for  the  twelve-inch 
street  sewers  was  one  dollar  per  foot,  that 
covering  expense  of  putting  in  pipe  and  the 


226  "Look  to  Home.'* 

catch  basins  for  flood  waters.  Under  the  new 
law  he  was  called  upon  for  from  $3.00  to  $3.50 
per  lineal  foot.  Being  justly  indignant  he  did 
a  little  detective  work.  On  some  streets, 
notably  those  from  West  Indiana  Street  to 
Kinzie  on  the  West  Side,  he  learned  that  the 
contractor  got  $600,  while  the  cost  of  levying 
the  assessment  and  inspecting  the  job  was  over 
$800.  On  some  of  the  jobs  the  inspectors  were 
more  numerous  than  the  laborers  engaged  on 
the  contract.  On  his  complaining  at  the  City 
Hall  he  was  laughed  at,  called  a  land  baron, 
and  told  they  were  going  to  make  it  as  hot  as 
possible  for  the  land  owner,  that  he  either  had 
to  build  or  sell.  But  calling  him  a  land  baron 
did  not  exempt  the  poor  laborer  from  paying 
the  same  assessment. 

Chicago  is  the  only  city  in  the  United  States 
known  to  the  writer  where  the  entire  cost  of 
sewers,  water  pipes,  catch  basins,  filling  curb- 
ing and  paving  the  streets  and  the  cement  side 
walks  are  laid  upon  the  adjoining  property, 
and  even  the  cost  of  levying  those  assessments. 
He  calls  to  mind  a  certain  lot  in  the  city,  one 
of  a  numerous  class.  The  owner  first  paid 
about  $40  for  a  cement  side  walk;  then  about 
$60  for  a  sewer;  then  about  $150  for  curbing. 


"Look  to  Home."  227 

filling  and  paving  the  street  in  front  of  that 
lot.  Then  within  sixteen  years  the  sewer  was 
taken  up,  another  one  laid  at  a  cost  of  $55  or 
more ;  then  it  was  repaved  at  the  cost  again  of 
$150;  then  $13  a  year  taxes  for  twenty  years; 
then  water  connections  and  sewer  drains  to  lot 
line  about  $40,  making  nearly  $800  paid  out  on 
that  lot  within  twenty  years,  not  counting 
interest  on  those  payments.  He  cannot  now 
sell  it  for  over  $500. 

It  will  not  do  to  call  this  an  exceptional  in- 
stance. The  writer  can  give  full  particulars 
and  figures  of  st  hundred  similar  cases.  He  has 
been  given  facts  by  poor  working  men  in 
many,  many,  such  cases  until  his  heart  grew 
sick.  Merely  to  refer  to  the  matter  causes  him 
pain.  Not  the  cub  reporter  or  the  professional 
office  holder,  but  from  the  tax  payer  himself 
must  it  be  ascertained  whether  these  state- 
ments are  exaggerated  or  not. 

Except  on  the  theory  that  it  is  a  crime  to 
own  real  property,  not  a  word  can  be  urged  in 
justification  of  all  this. 

It  may  be  noticed  that  the  benevolence  of 
the  office  holders  and  their  efforts  in  behalf  of 
the  poor  laborer  has  been  confined  to  lavishly 
expending  the  tax  payers'  money.     It  has 


228  "Look  to  Home." 

never  extended  to  decreasing  their  own  wages. 
On  the  contrary,  salaries  every  year  have  been 
raised  until  now  they  are  out  of  all  proportion 
to  benefits  conferred.  Men  who  could  never 
earn  in  private  life  over  ten  or  twelve  hundred 
dollars  per  year  think  when  working  for  the 
public  that  they  are  justly  entitled  to  $5,000, 
$7,000  or  $10,000.  Seven  thousand  dollars  is 
a  good  income  on  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars. 
The  writer  could  add  a  great  deal  to  above  sub- 
ject, but  as  life  is  sweet  to  him  at  even  his  ad- 
vanced age,  he  refrains.  In  all  their  benevo- 
lence has  increased  the  city  expenditures,  not 
counting  special  assessments,  during  the  last 
five  years  from  eleven  millions  to  twenty-four 
millions  of  dollars. 

What  solution  do  these  pseudo  philanthro- 
pists offer  for  the  evils  they  themselves  have 
created?  You  may  confiscate  a  man's  property 
under  guise  of  law,  but  you  cannot  compel  him 
to  build  more  houses  when  you  are  going  to 
also  rob  him  of  the  rentals  therefrom.  The 
office  holders '  solution  is  to  lay  on  more  taxes. 
A  woman  settlement  worker's  solution,  quoted 
by  the  newspapers  approvingly,  is  to  pour 
gasoline  on  the  congested  tenements  and  set 


"Look  to  Home."  229 

them  on  fire.    It  is  the  old  matter  of  hanging 
the  bakers  during  a  famine. 

I  append  two  clippings  on  this  subject  taken 
from  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  recent  date.  I 
thought  I  had  preserved  the  date,  but  find  I 
did  not.    They  speak  for  themselves : 

HOUSES  FOR  POOR  A  HUGE  PROBLEM. 


Should  the  housing  of  the  poor  be  overlooked  in  the 
plans  for  the  beautification  of  Chicago? 

A  formal  protest  against  any  such  omission  has 
been  made  to  the  city  plan  commission  by  the  trustees 
of  the  University  of  Chicago  settlement,  and  a  plea  is 
made  for  a  comprehensive  method  for  the  housing  of 
the  working  people  who  now  reside  in  tenements.  An 
ordinance  which  will  prevent  the  erection  of  cheap 
tenements  and  bring  about  the  abolition  of  present  un- 
sightly and  insanitary  buildings  is  suggested. 

"Under  the  direction  of  public  spirited  members  of 
the  Commercial  club,  excellent  plans  for  a  greater  Chi- 
cago have  been  prepared,"  declares  the  latter.  "These 
plans  make  wise  and  ample  provisions  for  the  future 
growth  of  our  city  as  regards  traffic  and  transportation 
facilities,  public  buildings,  parks  and  boulevards.  But 
there  is  an  important  factor  of  a  better  Chicago  which 
was  not  included  within  the  field  of  last  year's  report 
on  the  city  plan.  That  factor  is  the  housing  of  our 
working  people. 

Families  in  Cellars. 

"We  cannot  have  a  really  'great'  Chicago  unless 
there  are  habitable  and  comfortable  dwellings  for  its 
wage  earners.  In  the  Twenty-ninth  ward,  for  ex- 
ample, hundreds  of  families  are  existing  in  dark,  un- 


280  "Look  to  Home." 

ventilated  rooms,  sometimes  in  cellars.  Two,  three, 
and  four  families  are  crowded  together  in  frame  cot- 
tages originally  built  for  one  family.  In  the  long  two 
and  three  story  frame  tenements  six  to  twenty  families 
may  be  found,  besides  dozens  of  lodgers. 

"Many  of  the  long  tenements  cover  the  entire  lot, 
and  where  there  are  cottages  there  is  often  one  in  the 
front  and  one  in  the  rear — leaving  insufficient  space 
for  a  playground  or  yard.  The  structures  are  often 
old,  moldy,  unpainted,  and  set  in  jagged  lines,  and 
few  trees  or  gardens  break  the  bleakness  and  ugliness 
of  parts  of  the  district. 

"In  the  northern  part  of  the  ward  it  is  almost  im- 
possible for  people  earning  limited  wages  to  secure 
any  dwellings  in  which  they  can  take  pride  and  com- 
fort. Unsightly  and  undesirable  buildings  are  now 
being  erected,  and  the  city  is  paying  the  bill  in  the  loss 
of  vigor  and  efficiency  for  its  wage  working  population 
and  in  additional  expense  of  maintaining  public  health. 
For  instance,  in  the  Twenty-ninth  ward  (where 
housing  is  poor)  during  the  month  of  July,  1910,  the 
death  rate  of  infants  was  more  than  ten  times  that  of 
the  Sixth  ward,  a  well  housed  district  fronting  the  lake. 

Building  Law  Not  Enough. 

"To  meet  problems  relating  to  sanitation  and  build- 
ing structure  a  new  building  code  was  introduced  into 
the  city  council  last  year.  It  contains  many  excellent 
regulations  with  respect  to  safety  and  health.  If  pro- 
perly enforced,  if  a  generous  appropriation  for  an  ade- 
quate building  and  sanitary  inspection  force  is  made, 
decided  improvement  will  unquestionably  follow. 

"Still,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  the  passage  of  a 
building  ordinance  will  meet  the  situation,  for  such  a 
law  merely  prohibits  contractors  from  erecting  danger- 
ous and  unsanitary  structures,  and  only  to  a  limited 
extent  lessens  the  evils  of  existing  housing.     Even  if 


"Look  to  Home."  281 

properly  enforced  it  would  leave  unsightly  dwellings 
which  would  provide  adequate  living  space  neither  in- 
side nor  outside  the  houses.  It  would  not  meet  the 
profound  moral  disintegration  which,  we  know  too 
well,  always  follows  upon  overcrowding  in  family  life. 

Little  Time  to  Hunt  Houses. 

"The  reason  for  this  need  of  supervision  by  the 
community  through  its  representatives  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  pressure  of  making  a  living  leaves 
a  considerable  number  of  our  wage  earners  little  time, 
money,  or  energy  to  determine  how  they  and  their 
neighbors  are  to  live.  And  because  they  are  forced  to 
live  in  cramped  rooms,  at  a  low  rent,  under  conditions 
which  make  privacy  and  cleanliness  almost  impossible, 
we  sometimes  judge  that  they  do  not  want  to  live 
cleanly  and  decently.  In  the  majority  of  cases  this 
judgment  is  unjust  and  untrue. 

"The  present  moment  is  favorable  for  attacking  the 
problem  here,  because  from  the  forthcoming  investiga- 
tions of  selected  parts  of  Chicago  made  through  the 
Russell  Sage  foundation  and  other  sources  there  is  a 
wealth  of  information  which  bears  directly  on  this 
question. 

"The  housing  problem  is  of  central  importance  in 
any  scheme  of  the  city  planning.  It  requires  com- 
petent, impartial  control,  and  immediate  action  must 
he  taken." 

Sociologists  O.  K.  the  Plan. 

The  proposal  to  have  the  city  plan  commission  take 
up  the  question  of  housing  was  indorsed  by  a  number 
of  Chicago  sociologists. 

"The  other  tenement  districts  of  Chicago  are  about 
the  same  as  in  the  Twenty-ninth  ward,"  declared  Miss 
Mary  McDowell.  "Wherever  there  are  large  numbers 
of  industrial  workers  there  is  overcrowding.     These 


232  "Look  to  Home." 

workers  can't  build  cottage  homes,  and  are  forced  to 
reside  in  the  tenements. 

"As  rents  go,  tenement  rentals  are  exorbitant,  and 
these  poor  people  are  forced  to  pay  a  higher  rate  than 
in  other  parts  of  the  city.  I  know  families  that  pay 
$10  and  $13  for  rooms  on  the  ground,' with  no  heat  or 
light  and  almost  no  air  and  sunshine.  The  little  cot- 
tage isn't  ideal  when  built  on  the  ground,  and  these 
tenement  cottages  rent  so  high  that  the  tenants  sub- 
rent  every  inch  of  space. 

Would  Reserve  Districts. 

"Under  our  city  ordinances  a  factory  can  be  put  up 
almost  anywhere  in  the  city,"  declared  George  Hooker 
who  studied  housing  problems  in  a  number  of  Eur- 
opean cities  last  summer.  "Factories  have  been  erected 
in  residence  districts  and  have  changed  the  neigh- 
borhood, for  property  owners  will  not  make  improve- 
ments in  such  sections.  We  have  not  had  proper  in- 
spection of  tenements.  We  need  to  have  them  in- 
spected and  to  have  a  census  of  the  dwellers  taken,  in- 
cluding conditions  of  living,  rents,  and  so  forth.  Cer- 
tain districts  should  be  reserved  for  residence,  and  no 
other  use  made  of  them." 

"The  general  question  of  housing  is  quite  as  im- 
portant as  any  feature  of  the  city  plan,"  declared  Wal- 
ter L.  Fisher,  special  traction  counsel  "But  it  is  a 
serious  question  whether  the  city  has  the  authority  to 
declare  just  what  sort  of  buildings  may  be  erected  in 
certain  districts  or  to  lay  out  zones  in  which  buildings 
must  conform  to  a  certain  type  and  standard,  as  some 
European  cities  have  done.  We  have  no  statute  along 
this  line  in  Illinois,  and  even  if  the  legislature  passed 
such  a  statute,  it  would  be  a  nice  legal  question 
whether  it  would  be  constitutional." 


"Look  to  Home."  283 

THE  WORKERS  HOME. 

Every  man  and  woman  in  the  city  of  Chicago  ought 
to  read  a  communication  published  in  The  Tribune  of 
this  issue. 

It  is  a  letter  of  the  board  of  the  University  settle- 
ment addressed  to  the  city  plan  commission,  and  it 
touches  upon  one  of  the  most  important  questions 
affecting  the  people  of  this  community. 

That  question  is  better  housing  for  the  wage  earner. 

As  the  letter  points  out,  Chicago  already  has, 
through  the  generosity  of  the  Commercial  club,  a  plan 
for  the  beautification  of  the  city.  This  plan  provides 
for  splendid  boulevards  and  open  places,  and  for  the 
orderly  and  convenient  arrangement  of  streets.  The 
plan  is  now  in  the  hands  of  a  public  commission  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor.  It  includes  public  officials,  al- 
dermen, and  men  from  all  walks  of  life.  Therefore  it 
is  appropriate  that  in  such  hands  the  Chicago  plan 
should  be  extended  to  include  the  subject  proposed  by 
the  board  of  the  University  settlement. 

In  the  board's  letter  reference  is  made  to  certain 
conditions  in  the  Twenty-ninth  ward.  It  is  said  that 
there  are  "hundreds  of  families  existing  in  dark,  un- 
ventilated  rooms  in  cellars."  It  is  said  that  "two, 
three,  and  four  families  are  living  in  cottages  built 
for  one.  It  is  said  that  "in  long  two  or  three  story 
frame  tenements  from  six  to  twenty  families  live,  be- 
sides dozens  of  lodgers." 

These  conditions  are  not  found  only  in  the  district 
named  in  this  letter.  They  are  found  in  other  parts  of 
the  city,  and,  taken  all  together,  they  constitute  a  large 
area  which  calls  for  enlightened  attention.  The  letter 
very  truly  declares  that  Chicago  cannot  be  a  "great" 
city  in  the  sense  in  which  we  all  wish  to  make  her 
great  if  she  neglects  the  needs  and  interests  of  the 
wage  workers,  the  men  and  women  upon  whose  labor 


284  "Look  to  Home." 

all  her  material  prosperity  is  founded.  The  wage  earner 
has  little  time,  money,  or  energy  to  spare  for  the  solu- 
tion of  this  problem.  And  even  if  he  did,  he  would 
not  be  able  to  accomplish  satisfactory  results  individ- 
ually. It  is  work  which  must  be  done  along  broad 
lines  by  public  or  collective  agencies.  Other  great 
cities  of  the  world,  especially  those  of  Europe,  have 
been  forced  to  adopt  measures  of  reform.  Chicago 
ought  to  be  far  sighted  enough  to  meet  the  evil  before 
it  grows  worse  and  to  make  provision  for  not  only  a 
present  improvement  but  also  for  a  sound  growth. 

Yesterday  The  Tribune  spoke  of  the  great  move- 
ment for  conservation,  and  especially  of  the  conser- 
vation of  human  life  and  health.  Here  in  this  pro- 
posal of  the  board  of  the  University  settlement  is  the 
way  pointed  to  a  great  act  of  human  conservation. 
Let  Chicago  put  her  hand  now  to  the  task  of  wiping 
out  these  crowded  districts  and  providing  by  wise 
means  that  the  wage  earner  and  his  family  shall  find 
homes  that  are  healthy  and  convenient,  homes  where 
children  may  grow  up  happily  to  be  prosperous  and 
useful  citizens. 

The  same  Chicago  Tribune,  a  few  weeks 
after  publishing  those  articles,  editorially  re- 
ferring to  the  news  that  Milwaukee  was  going 
to  embark  in  the  business  of  building  munici- 
pal-owned tenements,  said  that  the  more 
socialism  of  that  kind  we  had  in  Chicago  the 
better.  When  a  young  man  I  officed  seven 
years  with  the  man  who,  until  he  went  on  the 
bench,  was  the  lawyer  for  Joseph  Medill  and 
the  Tribune.    Naturally  I  became  as  familiar 


"Look  to  Home."  235 

with  him  and  his  private  opinions  as  an  un- 
known young  man  could  with  an  old  man  in 
the  full  blaze  of  glory.  When  I  read  that  edi- 
torial I  thought:  "The  brains  of  old  Joe  Medill 
have  run  out  in  the  third  generation." 

This  book  is  not  intended  as  a  primer  of 
political  economy,  much  as  Chicago  may  need 
such  a  primer,  but  let  us  consider  this  question 
a  minute.  It  would  take  a  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  expended  on  tenements  to  make  any 
impression  upon  present  congested  state  of 
Chicago,  every  dollar  of  which  would  have  to 
be  borrowed  from  the  much-hated  capitalist. 
With  those  hundred  millions  of  dollars  they 
might  build  fifty  million  dollars  worth  of  tene- 
ments, as,  whether  in  Chicago,  New  Zealand 
or  Australia,  public  works  cost  double  what 
private  works  cost.  The  politician,  as  a  rule, 
is  hardly  satisfied  with  a  rakeoff  of  one-half. 
The  city  would  collect  very  little  in  rent,  and 
at  the  end  of  fifteen  years  the  houses  would  be 
uninhabitable  wrecks.  This  process  would 
have  to  be  repeated  so  long  as  the  capitalist 
could  be  found  to  keep  up  the  game.  I  saw  the 
four  million  dollar  post  office  go  up,  stone  by 
stone,  and  fall  down  again  in  fifteen  years.  I 
saw  the  six  million  dollar  city  hall  and  court 


236  "Look  to  Home." 

house  go  up,  stone  by  stone,  and  fall  down 
again  in  fifteen  years.  I  am  stretching  my 
imagination  to  the  utmost  in  giving  fifteen 
years  to  jerry-built  public  tenements  filled 
with  destructive  tenants. 

Perhaps  I  am  old  fashioned  and  deserving 
of  hanging,  but  I  still  think  that  the  best  citi- 
zen is  the  man  who  lives  with  his  family 
in  his  own  bright,  sunny,  roomy  house;  such 
a  man  stands  the  best  chance  of  rearing  his 
children  in  the  right  way ;  that  a  city  should  be 
a  great  corporation,  economically  run  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  stock  holders — its  tax 
payers;  that  if  you  legislate  for  home  owners 
you  get  home  owners ;  that  if  you  legislate  for 
paupers  you  get  paupers;  that  if  you  deliber- 
ately rob  every  man  of  the  fruits  of  his  indus- 
try he  will  purposely  try  to  have  nothing  that 
may  be  taken.  This  was  true  in  Persia  three 
thousands  of  years  ago.  It  is  true  in  Chicago 
today. 

On  searching  for  the  compensation,  as 
Emerson  advises,  perhaps  we  may  conclude  it 
is  all  for  the  best.  Great  cities  are  the  sink 
holes  of  the  human  race,  the  places  where  the 
blood  deteriorates,  sterilizes  and  runs  out. 
Anything  that  tends  to  overcome  the  centripe- 


"Look  to  Home."  287 

tal  propensity  of  the  people  to  crowd  together 
may  not  be  an  unmixed  evil.  Whether  they 
desire  it  or  not,  to  drive  them  out  is  a  benefit. 
Anything  that  induces  the  manufacturer  to 
locate  his  industry  in  a  village  instead  of  Chi- 
cago is  a  work  of  philanthropy.  Any  family 
that  takes  an  acre  or  more  out  of  the  conges- 
tion, out  on  the  electric  interurbans  may  easily 
avoid  all  the  evils  we  hear  so  much  about. 
The  only  cure  for  a  socialist  is  to  starve  him. 
But  our  loud-mouthed,  much-writing  social- 
istic friends  do  not  intend  it  that  way.  "If 
John  D.  Rockefeller  drinks  champagne  we 
want  champagne"  is  their  cry.  But  the  John 
D.  Rockefellers  of  the  industrial  world  do  not 
drink  champagne.  My  critics  will  indignantly 
resent  the  idea  that  they  are  making  Chicago 
less  habitable.  The  boy  who  fouled  the  bed 
occupied  by  himself  alone  still  denied  that  he 
had  done  it. 

Much  is  being  said  about  making  Chicago 
another  Paris.  It  is  considered  a  justification 
for  any  and  every  expense.  We  are  told  in 
French  literature  of  a  man  who  had  a  very 
beautiful  wife.  He  went  up  to  court  with  her 
where  the  king,  seeing  and  admiring  her,  made 
her  his  favorite,  bestowing  upon  her  husband 


238  "Look  to  Home." 

and  all  their  relatives  honorable  and  lucrative 
positions.  Thereupon  all  the  men  in  France 
who  had  beautiful  wives  went  up  to  Paris  and 
paraded  them  before  the  king,  to  the  effect 
that  they,  not  finding  the  king  easy,  bank- 
ruped  themselves  and,  disappointed,  went 
back  to  their  mortgaged  estates.  Phryne,  the 
courtesan,  we  are  told  in  Greek  history,  offered 
to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Thebes  at  her  own  ex- 
pense, but  that  has  not  deterred  millions  of 
Phrynes  since  then  dying  of  hunger  and  desti- 
tution. The  world  needs  but  one  Paris  at  a 
time.  As  Venice  preceded  her,  so  she  will 
reign  until  dethroned  by  another.  When  that 
occurs  it  will  not  be  Chicago  to  take  her  place. 
To  bankrupt  all  her  citizens  to  make  a  courte- 
san out  of  ugly,  dirty,  slatternly  Chicago. 
Es  ist  zu  lachen. 


Our  Lesson.  239 


CHAPTER  X. 
Our  Lesson. 

This  book  was  not  written  with  intention  or 
expectation  of  halting  the  course  of  socialism 
in  Chicago.  With  practically  all  its  newspa- 
pers, aided  by  innumerable  cheap  magazines, 
each  trying  to  outdo  the  other,  not  to  mention 
the  hundreds  of  speakers  and  writers  working 
for  the  advancement  of  those  ideas,  call  them 
what  you  may,  one  might  as  well  stand  on  the 
brink  of  Niagara  and  try  to  arrest  the  down- 
fall of  its  waters.  Chicago  is  a  hopeless  case. 
It  is  pledged  to  socialism,  so  far  as  the  legis- 
lation already  accomplished  or  to  be  obtained 
at  Springfield,  will  permit.  If  I  were  not  a 
Chicago  tax  payer  I  would  be  glad  to  see  the 
question  pushed  to  the  utmost.  After  being 
robbed  of  $100,000  wol-th  of  unproductive  real 
property  by  confiscation  no  element  of  sympa- 
thy in  my  mind  is  involved.    If  it  were  not 


240  Our  Lesson. 

that  I  am  still  a  large  stockholder  in  the  enter- 
prise I  think  I  could  view  the  throttling  pro- 
cess with  the  utmost  complacency. 

Then  why  this  book? 

It  certainly  is  not  a  bid  for  popularity.  I  am 
fully  aware  of  the  storm  of  opprobrium  that 
will  burst  upon  my  head  when  these  lines  face 
the  light.  No  association  will  ever  invite  me 
to  address  its  meetings.  No  Chicago  school 
house  will  ever  be  named  after  the  writer  of 
this  volume.  I  have  probably  given  of  my  own 
money  to  churches,  reading  rooms  and  colleges 
ten  dollars  where  Authority  ever  gave  one. 
Where  he  was  a  saint  I  can  only  be  a  sinner.  I 
am  also  well  aware  that  the  only  really  benevo- 
lent men  are  the  men  who  make  their  living  by 
their  benevolence.  Talk  is  so  cheap.  I  expect, 
as  the  result  of  all  this  labor,  unpopularity 
during  this  life  and  oblivion  thereafter,  so  far 
as  the  Chicago  newspapers  can  give  it  to  me. 
The  men  of  intelligence  and  integrity,  both 
North  and  South,  whose  wise  counsel,  if  fol- 
lowed, would  have  stayed  the  senseless  four 
years'  struggle  between  brothers  in  our  Civil 
war,  are  now  lying  forgotten  in  unknown 
graves.  The  men  on  both  sides  who,  for  their 
political  aggrandizement,  plunged  the  country 


Our  Lesson.  241 

into  that  awful  struggle  are  now  the  heroes  of 
their  respective  sections,  their  statues  stand- 
ing high  above  the  market  places  in  marble, 
their  features  perpetuated  in  bronze  tablets  or 
stamped  on  the  coins.  I  do  not  expect  human 
nature  to  change  in  my  day.  I  am  also  fully 
aware  that  it  is  not  the  man  who  produces  a 
disastrous  condition  of  affairs  that  achieves 
the  hatred  of  the  people,  but  the  man  who 
makes  it  known  to  the  world.  So  they  wanted 
to  lynch  the  health  officer  who  reported  the 
existence  of  the  bubonic  fever  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, but  not  the  men  who  allowed  it  to  in- 
crease. 

Nor  am  I  a  student  of,  or  writer  upon,  socio- 
logical conditions.  Carlyle  says  that  no  man 
need  go  out  hunting  for  things  to  reform.  To 
perform  the  duty  that  lies  nearest  is  sufficient 
for  any  man  and  will  keep  him  fully  occupied. 
I  did  not  go  to  Australia  and  New  Zealand  to 
arrest  their  course  in  socialism,  nor  did  I  in- 
tend to  write  a  book  about  them.  This  labor 
was,  in  a  great  measure,  forced  upon  me.  I 
have  a  message  to  the  people  of  Illinois  and  I 
give  it.  What  the  result  may  be  I  do  not  know. 
I  should  feel  craven  and  recreant  to  the  last 
day  of  my  life  if  I  withheld  it.     I  will  feel 


242  Our  Lesson. 

infinitely  relieved  when  the  task  is  accom- 
plished- 
Said  my  Vancouver  friend,  the  big  North  of 
Ireland  lumber  man  ,(not  the  socialist)  on  the 
Marama  coming  home:  ''I  predict  that  social- 
ism will  continue  to  grow  all  over  the  world 
until  it  extinguishes  all  known  governments, 
Christianity  and  our  present  civilization  start- 
ing the  world  anew  on  the  basis  of  the  ancient 
Persian  monarchy — the  boss  owning  every- 
thing. ' ' 

Who  will  assert  that  he  is  not  telling  the 
truth? 

Judging  from  its  growth  during  the  last 
thirty  years,  I  would  say  his  statement 
merited  serious  consideration.  When  a  city 
hall  tax  eater  twenty-five  years  ago  said  to  me 
that  it  was  their  intention  to  so  burden  vacant 
real  property  that  the  owner  would  be  com- 
pelled to  build  or  part  with  it  for  anything  he 
could  get,  I  considered  it  merely  the  irrespons- 
ible utterance  of  a  flannel  mouth.  I  afterwards 
learned  to  my  sorrow  that  he  was  telling  the 
absolute  truth.  So  that  now  when  a  clamor  is 
arising  ostensibly  to  compel  the  farmers,  as 
they  say,  to  bear  a  greater  share  of  the  public 
burden,  but  in  reality  to  tax  farm  lands  up  to 


Our  Lesson.  243 

its  rental  value,  I  think  it  time  to  open  my 
mouth.  I  am  in  the  position  of  a  burnt  child. 
Having  lost,  say  an  arm,  by  fire  I  now  know 
that  fire  will  burn.  I  do  not  propose  to  let 
either  myself  or  my  neighbor  inconsiderately 
be  consumed. 

Are  these  the  fears  of  an  alarmist?  The 
Chicago  Tribune  has  of  recent  years  repeat- 
edly in  its  editorial  columns  called  for  the  crea- 
tion of  a  tax  commission,  having  for  its  object 
the  equalization  of  taxes  all  over  the  state, 
that  the  farm  should  bear  a  greater  share  of  the 
public  taxes.  I  will  not  say  that  this  is  the 
only  newspaper  favoring  this  step,  but  as  it  is 
the  only  daily  that  I  read  consecutively,  its 
handling  of  this  and  similar  questions  is  more 
familiar  to  me. 

A  few  months  ago  a  cheap  magazine  of  sup- 
posedly tremendous  circulation  published  an 
article  written  by  a  professor  of  economics  in 
Harvard  College.  In  that  article  he  favored  as 
the  easiest  solution  for  the  evils  under  which 
the  community  is  supposed  to  be  suffering, 
high  cost  of  living,  congestion  in  cities,  etc., 
the  placing  of  higher  taxes  on  the  farms;  that 
as  the  community  is  one,  and  one  limb  of  the 
body  cannot  suffer  without  the  entire  cor- 


244  Our  Lesson. 

porate  system  suffering,  it  is  tlie  duty  of  the 
farmers  to  contribute  to  the  uplift  of  the  cities, 
etc.,  etc.  About  fifteen  years  ago  the  president 
of  a  great  western  university  gave  utterance 
to  nearly  similar  views  in  a  lecture.  He  was  at 
once  put  out.  That  no  notice  whatever  was 
taken  of  the  article  referred  to  shows  how  far 
socialistic  ideas  have  progressed  in  the  mean- 
time. 

Mr. ,  a  Chicago  lawyer  who  has  made 

fame  and  fortune  as  a  tax  fighter,  only  a  few 
days  previous  to  writing  this  chapter,  as 
quoted  in  the  Chicago  Tribune,  stated  in  an 
address  that  the  farmers  in  Illinois  did  not  pay 
half  enough  taxes,  and  favored  the  establish- 
ment of  a  central  assessing  body  which  shall 
levy  the  taxes  for  the  whole  community,  how- 
ever distant  the  land  may  lie.  De  Tocqueville, 
in  his  "Democracy  in  America",  asserts  that 
the  only  real  liberty  enjoyed  in  the  United 
States  not  shared  elsewhere  is  the  township 
government,  and  particularly  in  the  levying 
and  collecting  of  taxes  by  those  bodies,  and  not 
by  a  central  body.  Township  self  government 
he  considers  the  foundation  stone  of  our 
liberty.  Take  that  away  and  the  whole  super- 
structure is  imperiled.    We  have  had  a  taste 


Our  Lesson.  246 

of  that  in  the  Board  of  Review  in  Chicago,  the 
most  corrupt  organization  ever  holding  sway 
in  Cook  County.  When  that  central  tax  assess- 
ing body  called  for  by  Mr. is  estab- 
lished I  hope  there  will  also  be  established  an 
autocrat  at  Springfield  with  power  to  shoot  or 
behead  grafting  politicians  and  jury  bribing, 
perjury  inciting  and  tax  fighting  lawyers 
without  judge  or  jury. 

Ever  since  the  world  began,  and  all  over  the 
world  wherever  organized  society  existed,  the 
man  who  tilled  the  soil  has  been  compelled  to 
bear  the  burden  of  the  social  structure,  the 
cost  of  its  gorgeous  courts,  its  highly  deco- 
rated military  organizations,  and  its  mass  of 
idle  vicious  hangers-on  and  around  those  royal 
courts,  and  everywhere  the  tiller  of  the  soil  has 
purposely  tried  to  keep  himself  poor  to  avoid 
the  pressure.  Prance  and  the  United  States 
have  been  the  only  exceptions,  and  now  they 
are  starting  a  propaganda  to  remove  the  latter 
country  from  that  exception.  If  the  farmers  of 
Illinois  permit  it  to  be  carried  out,  I  can  only 
say  they  will  deserve  their  fate.  For  my  part 
I  would  say  sooner  insurrection  than  New  Zea- 
land socialism.  For  my  part  I  would  rather 
see  Chicago  level  with  the  prairie  and  sown 


246  Our  Lesson. 

with  salt  than  pay  its  full  rental  value  as  tax 
on  my  farm  to  the  public.  A  deaf  old  man,  I 
could  neither  work  it  myself  or  make  my  liv- 
ing without  it.  I  do  not  view  either  the  poor 
house  or  $1.50  per  week  as  a  pauper  pensioner 
with  equanimity.  And  there  are  thousands  in 
Illinois  in  precisely  my  circumstances.  It 
would  have  been  greatly  to  my  financial  ad- 
vantage if  eighteen  years  ago  I  had  stopped 
paying  taxes  on  my  vacant  lots  in  Chicago  and 
let  the  state  take  them  all.  When  the  crushing 
machine  gets  fully  into  motion  I  expect  to  sell 
my  farm  lands  for  whatever  I  can  get  and 
emigrate  to  Central  America  or  the  Cannibal 
islands  of  the  Pacific  where  there  is  still  some 
regard  for  property  rights.  Still  I  expect  it  to 
be  done,  and  that  within  fifty  years  we  will  see 
every  foot  of  farm  land  in  Illinois  be  paying 
full  rental  value  as  a  tax.  Then  the  only 
future  for  the  old  or  broken-down  farmer  will 
be  the  poor  house  or  the  pauper's  pension.  I 
only  hope  it  will  not  come  until  after  I  am 
dead. 

Why  this  crusade  against  the  farmer?  It  is 
only  a  short  time  that  he  has  been  enjoying  his 
prosperity.  It  is  only  about  twelve  or  fifteen 
years  ago  that  I  was  getting   eight   cents   a 


Our  Lesson.  247 

dozen  for  eggs,  three  dollars  a  hundred  for  my 
hogs,  and  seventeen  cents  a  bushel  for  my 
com,  while  an3^body  who  bought  farm  ground 
was  considered  as  big  a  fool  as  the  man  who 
now  buys  Chicago  real  property.  The  farmer 
has  always  borne  more  than  his  share  of  the 
public  burden.  He  pays  his  share  of  the 
national,  state,  county  and  township  tax.. 
Enough  is  raised  for  all  needful  purposes,  and 
to  that  no  objection  is  urged.  As  a  railroad 
conductor  once  said  to  me,  the  farmer  is  the 
only  man  who  paid  three  cents  a  mile.  Every 
faker,  every  chevalier  d 'Industrie  who  lives  by 
his  wits  in  promoting  schemes  in  the  cities, 
looks  to  the  farmer  for  his  prey.  The  import 
duties  have  always  pressed  most  heavily  upon 
him  to  build  up  the  colossal  fortimes  of  the 
Carnegies  et  al.  For  what  reason  this  cry  for 
taxing  the  farmers  up  to  their  rental  value? 
Formerly  the  talk  was  taxation  for  the  legiti- 
mate expenses  of  government  economically 
administered.  It  is  no  longer  that.  He  must 
be  taxed  as  a  principle.  If  its  advocate  be 
asked  for  what  purpose  so  miich  money  be 
raised  beyond  all  reasonable  demands  of  gov- 
ernment, the  answer,  the  only  one,  could  easily 
be:  *'Let  not  that  concern  you;  you  furnish  the 


248  Our  Lesson. 

money,  we  will  attend  to  the  spending".  It  is 
as  easy  now  for  the  city  government  of  Chi- 
cago to  spend  twenty-four  millions  of  dollars 
a  year  as  it  was  to  spend  eleven  millions  five 
years  ago. 

I  will  answer  that  question  in  a  way  he 
would  not.  It  is  to  provide  for  great  hordes  of 
highly-paid,  useless,  idle  officials  who  will 
form  a  great  machine  to  aggrandize  them- 
selves and  add  to  their  number,  as  in  New 
Zealand.  It  is  to  pour  from  the  utmost  ex- 
tremities of  the  state  great  sums  of  money  to 
support  a  numerous  army  of  bums  in  the  city 
who  will  further  the  lust  for  power  and  ambi- 
tions of  those  office  holders.  It  is  to  reduce  to 
serfdom  the  tiller  of  the  soil  and  inevitably 
bring  in  the  all-owning  autocrat.  Rome  drew 
upon  every  acre  of  its  vast  empire  for  grain  to 
feed  its  worthless  idle  masses,  but  those 
distant  regions  could  not  help  themselves,  be- 
ing under  military  domination.  Like  Gibbon, 
one  can  only  think  that  they  got  what  they 
deserved  when  the  barbarians  came  in  and 
exterminated  the  whole  crowd.  I  know  it  is 
dreadfully  sophomorical  to  refer  to  Rome  after 
these  forty  years,  but  I  couldn  't  help  it. 

To  make  even  a  pretense  of  justification  for 


Our  Lesson.  249 

this,  they  make  much  of  the  '* uplift"  as  they 
term  the  regeneration  of  the  city  masses 
through  the  robbing  of  the  country  man.  It  is 
a  pretty  difficult  matter  to  uplift  the  people 
who  will  not  make  an  effort  to  uplift  them- 
selves and  do  not  want  to  be  uplifted,  and  who, 
on  the  contrar}^  will  stubbornly  resist  any 
effort  to  uplift  them.  However,  it  gives  noto- 
riety and  an  easy  life  to  those  who  make  that 
an  excuse  for  their  existence.  Some  years  ago 
the  Chicago  Tribune  published  a  synopsis  of  the 
report  of  the  New  York  Tenement  Commis- 
sion. As  the  result  of  their  investigations  they 
reported  that  if  the  families  were  taken  out  of 
the  New  York  slums  and  put  in  the  finest 
mansions  of  Fifth  Avenue,  within  six  months 
those  mansions  would  be  the  slums  of  New 
York.  I  clipped  that  article  out  and  mailed  it 
to  a  lady  well  known  for  her  benevolent  incli- 
nations. No  reply  to  it  was  ever  received  by 
me.  Let  any  family  in  Chicago  express  even  a 
desire  for  better  conditions  and  see  how  many 
practical  men  will  spring  to  their  aid,  but 
those  practical  men  require  that  that  family 
co-operate  in  their  efforts,  which  usually  is  the 
last  thing  it  desires  to  do.  Pouring  water  into 
a  rat  hole  has  generally  been  considered  the 


260  Our  Lesson. 

height  of  wasteful  and  useless  expenditure.  It 
is  nothing  compared  with4he  task  of  impover- 
ishing a  whole  stateful  of  industrious  provi- 
dent farmers  to  coddle  a  mass  of  vicious  idle 
city  dwellers  who  want  "money  not  advice". 
It  is  paying  too  dear  for  it.  Summed  up,  all 
this  talk  of  the  uplift  amounts  to  the  fact  that 
while  they  cannot  stop  the  poverty  they  can 
stop  the  wealth.  It  is  the  old  primitive  desire 
for  loot.  It  is  strongest  where  the  loot  has 
accumulated.  In  the  country  where  possession 
of  property  means  back-breaking  toil,  it  is 
practically  non-existent.  Father  Heckewelder, 
the  Moravian  missionary,  says  after  the  wild 
Indians  had  compelled  his  thrifty  Christian- 
ized Indians  to  accompany  them  into  l^he 
woods  of  western  Ohio:  "Every  day  brought 
us  new  troubles.  The  cattle  finding  no  good 
pasture  were  constantly  attempting  to  return, 
and  therefore  had  to  be  watched.  The  milch 
cows  failed  for  want  of  proper  feed,  and  owing 
to  this  many  families,  and  especially  those  who 
had  small  children,  suffered.  Provisions  of  all 
kinds  were  wanting,  and  when  the  women 
went  into  the  woods  or  on  the  river  banks  to 
look  for  and  dig  roots  as  a  substitute,  they 
either  could  not  find  what  they  were  in  search 


Our  Lesson.  251 

of  or  the  ground  was  too  hard  frozen  to  get 
them.  Corn  was  very  scarce  throughout  the 
country,  and  those  who  had  the  article  asked 
a  dollar  for  three  or  four  quarts.  Even  the  /< 
timber  for  building  was  far  off,  for  all  the  ^ 
counrry,  to  a  j^reat  distance  was  a  barren 
praine,  with  the  exception  of  here  and  there 


a 


jTew  scattered,  tre£s>  The  pinching  cold  was 
severely  felt  by  all  those  who  were  in  want  of 
clothes  and  bedding,  and  this  was  particularly 
the  case  with  us. 

Under  the  pressure  of  sufferings  we  were 
ridiculed  and  laughed  at.  *Look',  said  the 
Monesey  chief  to  a  Wyandot,  'look  at  these 
praying  (Christian)  Indians,  who  but  the 
other  day  were  living  in  affluence,  how  they 
now  creep  about  in  the  bushes  looking  for 
roots  and  berries  to  keep  themselves  from 
starving.  Well,  they  are  served  right,  for  why 
should  some  live  better  than  others'?  We  have 
now  brought  them  on  a  level  with  us/  Yet 
such  sayings  were  not  the  worst,  but  both  Pipe 
and  the  half  king  boasted  that  they  now  had  it 
in  their  power  to  compel  the  Christian  Indians 
to  go  to  war  with  them  whenever  they  choose 
to  command  them." 


252  Our  Lesson. 

So  they  as  much  as  say  in  Australia  and  New 
Zealand:  ''We  may  pauperize  the  whole  com- 
munity, but  it  must  be  a  community  of  equals. 
There  shall  not  be  a  rich  man  and  a  poor  man. " 

The  human  race  has  always  been  trying  to 
abrogate  the  laws  of  nature  by  statute  laws, 
the  law  of  the  political  bum  for  the  law  of  the 
Creator,  to  its  own  loss.  Homer  makes  Jove 
say:  ''Mankind  brings  a  flood  of  evils  on  its 
head  by  its  own  follies,  and  lays  the  blame 
upon  me."  A  more  modern  writer  hits  it  off 
neatly  when  he  makes  Jove  say:  "What,  I 
damn  such  fools'?" 

It  is  the  law  of  nature  that  the  idle,  the 
vicious  and  the  drunken  suffer  therefor.  Few 
of  the  human  race  are  guided  by  reason,  or  by 
any  other  law  than  that  of  necessity.  If  you 
rob  a  man  of  the  rewards  of  his  industry,  or 
if  you  make  it  hard  for  individuals  to  accumu- 
late wealth,  you  increase  the  poverty  of  all. 
Among  the  rich  you  get  rich;  among  the  poor 
you  get  poor.  New  Zealand  and  Australia  are 
condemned  to  an  eternity  of  mediocrity.  We 
are  trying  to  follow  their  example. 

The  End. 


v;. 


UC  SOUTHERN  HEGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  961  773     9 


ChJ/t.  If» 


